


Hero Down

by cchasing_the_sunn



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence, Character Death, F/F, Lena gets a suit, Maggie caring for Kara, but bear with me it's not permanent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2018-09-28 16:29:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 38,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10137491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cchasing_the_sunn/pseuds/cchasing_the_sunn
Summary: Alex Danvers was gone; perished in an explosion at a CADMUS sight that left nothing but a crater full of rubble and a cloud of kyrptonite behind.Alex Danvers died; all of Kara’s strength and hope went with her.Alex Danvers died and Kara Zor-El lost another world.Alex Danvers died and Maggie Sawyer felt her heart shatter into microscopic bits.Alex Danvers died and J’onn J’onzz lost another daughter.Alex Danvers died; so did Supergirl.





	1. What next?

**Author's Note:**

> As said in the tags the death is not permanent, but these are the events following the aftermath of Alex's death

Alex Danvers was gone; perished in an explosion at a CADMUS sight that left nothing but a crater full of rubble and a cloud of kyrptonite behind.

Alex Danvers died; all of Kara’s strength and hope went with her.

Alex Danvers died and Kara Zor-El lost another world.

Alex Danvers died and Maggie Sawyer felt her heart shatter into microscopic bits.

Alex Danvers died and J’onn J’onzz lost another daughter.

Alex Danvers died; so did Supergirl.

/\/\/\/\/\

Lucy Lane slammed the thick folder in her hands onto the floor that resulted in a loud, sharp, THWAP!’ that resonated through the command center.

All movement ceased.

Vasquez looked around at the room and realized no one was going to speak up. She rolled her chair back, the action garnered the attention of everyone in the command center.

“Ma’am?”

Lucy lifted her head and tore her teary eyes from the now scattered file. She couldn’t do it. She told everyone that she could handle all the legal work, but she couldn’t. Every time she filled out dates, cause of death, and signed here and there, Lucy felt her sanity falling away because she must be going insane if this was really happening.

Lucy rubbed her palms across her eyes, wiping the tears away, and paid no mind if she messed up her mascara. She composed herself, set her shoulders back, and took a deep breath. “Yes?”

Vasquez glanced toward the monitor where live feed was being received from the tactical helmet of an agent leading a team through a CADMUS base. “Your orders?”

Lucy studied the monitor. She could order them to proceed, but that nagging feeling was there, making Lucy second guess everything. It was a simple infiltration, get in seize what they could and get out.

Alex died during a simple infiltration. A simple infiltration that turned into a trap.

“Fall back.”

The order shocked all in the room.

Vasquez’s eyes widened. “Ma’am?” It was clear, they’d probably run into a few CADMUS operatives, but they could do this. Vasquez understood; she knew the reasons behind her co-director’s hesitance. They all lost a friend that day. They lost family.

Lucy cleared her throat. “I said fall back.”

They weren’t going to chance losing any agent, not so soon after losing one of their best.

Vasquez relayed the order and Lucy knelt down to gather her paperwork.

Lucy felt the tears well up in her eyes as she caught a glance of Alex’s ID photo on the top page of the file. She picked up the lone page and sniffled, wiping her nose with her sleeve.

“Damn it, Danvers.” Lucy’s voice cracked as a soft sob escaped her.

The agents in the room averted their eyes out of respect.

A pair of hands entered Lucy’s blurry vision and she looked up to see Vasquez gathering the papers.

“Everyone would understand if you took a day, or several.” Vasquez told her with an understanding look.

Lucy shook her head. “I can’t. J’onn refuses to leave Kara and Kara refuses to get out bed.” Lucy’s voice trembled as she fought back her tears. “We’re working double time without Supergirl, James is out there with Winn, and Eliza can’t make arrange her daughter’s funeral without breaking down, someone has to keep things going.” Lucy took the now stacked file from Vasquez.

Vasquez helped Lucy to her feet. “You don’t have to do it alone, Lucy.”

Lucy was stunned. Not because Vasquez was offering help, but because Lucy was certain that was the first time Vasquez has called her by her first name; and it’s…different. Lucy’s eyes flit across Vasquez’s face in search of…something, anything that Lucy can see as ulterior motives. It wouldn’t be the first time Lucy witnessed someone using a time of grieving to make their way up the ranks.

But she found nothing. Nothing that told her Vasquez was using this as an opportunity to climb the ranks.

Lucy was actually ashamed of herself for entertaining the thought of Vasquez using Alex’s death as a means to ascend through the ranks. Vasquez was one of Alex’s closest friends here at the DEO and just…shame, shame on her.

Lucy nodded. “Ok.” She whispered.

Vasquez actually smiled at her. “Ok.”

/\/\/\/\

Maggie stepped into the apartment and tossed her keys onto the shelves by the door and cast a glance around the now cold and empty apartment. It wasn’t empty really, all the furniture was still in place, the photos on the mantle, and the dishes from five days ago still in the sink.

Being a cop Maggie knew loss. But none of that could have prepared her for the day she lost Alex. No amount of broken hearted mothers weeping, or fathers breaking down, or siblings pleading for them to be wrong, or even the deaths of a brother or sister in blue, could have prepared Maggie for any of this.

Maggie wiped a stray tear from her cheek as she stepped further into the apartment. Her captain had sent her home early because she wasn’t focused; he told her to take the weekend off and didn’t want to see her till Monday morning. She draped her leather jacket over the back of the couch and kicked her boots off by the dining table. Alex hated when she did that; always reminding Maggie to move them so she wouldn’t “trip and die” over them in the middle of the night on her way to the kitchen for a glass of water.

But the reminder never came; and that made the apartment feel emptier than when she walked in.

She walked to the bed, stepping up the two steps with wobbly legs, and just collapsed onto the bed. She felt all fight, all will, leave her body as she let herself sink into the unmade bed. She clawed the sheets in an attempt to pull herself up the bed. She eventually reached the pillow-her pillow, on her side; because they had sides, Maggie was over enough that she had a side-and grabbed Alex’s pillow; hugging it close to her. Maggie buried her nose into the pillow taking in the smell of Alex’s shampoo. Maggie had taken to hugging Alex’s pillow close just to sleep. She can’t sleep at her place, she’s tried. It had been five days and Maggie can’t fucking sleep, and that’s understandable, but god damn it, Maggie would love to just go to bed and wake up to find that the past five days have been nothing but a cruel nightmare.

“Damn it, Danvers.”

Maggie tossed and turned until she was wrapped in the comforter and surrounded by Alex’s scent. It was then that she allowed the dam to break.

Wrapped up in Alex’s comforter, on Alex’s bed, holding Alex’s pillow, in Alex’s apartment; just being surrounded by everything Alex.

Maggie pressed her face into the pillow and let out the loudest scream she could muster before it turned into sobs and Maggie’s body began to shake as she cried for the woman she loved.

Maggie never got the chance to tell Alex she loved her.

/\/\/\/\

That’s was how Eliza found her hours later.

Eliza stepped into Alex’s apartment, using Kara’s key to get in, and paused when she saw the small detective passed out on Alex’s bed; Alex’s pillow in a steel grip.

Eliza’s heart broke for Maggie. She lost her daughter, and Maggie lost a friend and lover. They both cared deeply for Alex and now…she was gone. Eliza and Alex had been making great progress with their relationship, they were fixing things.

Eliza chocked back a sob as she wiped her eyes and moved into the kitchen. She pulled out a pan and ingredients as quietly as she could to make pancakes. When Alex or Kara were sad and they didn’t have pizza and it was too late to make a pizza run, Eliza would make them hot chocolate and pancakes.

The memory made her smile. Alex watching Kara with wide eyed amusement and slight envy as she drowned her stacks of pancakes with enough syrup to give three people diabetes; Alex huffing as she tried to eat as much as she could before Kara finished it all.

Eliza had invested in a tabletop skillet just so she could cook five pancakes at once. She got good at rapidly flipping multiple pancakes at one time.

Maggie was woken by the smell of coffee and pancakes. Her first thought was Alex, but she was quickly and rudely reminded that Alex’s wasn’t here anymore.

Her hand went to the nightstand where she kept her gun most nights, but a blunt object digging into her hip reminded her that she hadn’t removed her holster and gun when she dropped into bed.

Maggie noticed the lights were on and sat up, immediately spotting Eliza in front of the stove. She crawled out of bed, frowning at the sticky feeling of her jeans sticking to her legs. She made her way into the kitchen. She noticed the sink was clear of all dishes and somehow that made it a little more real in the past five days.

Eliza looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Hi, Maggie.”

“Uh, hey, Dr. Danvers.”

Eliza smiled. “I’ve told you to call me Eliza.”

Maggie smiled sheepishly. “Right, sorry, I just…I wasn’t sure I…” Maggie trailed off as she placed her arms on the island bar and leaned forward.

Eliza frowned. “Maggie, you’re always going to be a part of this family.” Eliza said, her voice cracking a bit at the end. “Just because…” Eliza took a shaky breath and wiped her eyes. “You’re family.” She repeated. “Alex would kill us if we treated you otherwise.” She tried to smile, she did, but all that came out were more tears and a sob.

Maggie wasn’t really good at consoling crying mothers, but this was Alex’s mother. This was her family. Maggie moved around the counter and wrapped her arms around Eliza’s waist, pulling her close.

Eliza wrapped her arms around Maggie’s shoulders and wept. She wept for Alex, she wept for Jeremiah, she wept for Kara, she wept for her relationship with Alex that she hadn’t gotten to fully fix, and she wept for Maggie, the woman that made Alex smile so brightly, the woman who made Alex so happy, and just loved Alex.

A burning smell caught their attention and they sprung apart, rushing to the stove to turn it off and move the pan.

Once the crisis was averted they shared a glance and laughed.

“I’m sorry.” Eliza laughed. “I just…when the girls were upset I’d usually make pancakes and hot chocolate for them, and I wasn’t sure if you’d eaten, there are a few already made…”

Maggie cut her off with a hug. “Thank you.”

Eliza didn’t ask for what. She understood. “Thank you.” For loving my daughter, for making her happy, for helping her be her truest self.

/\/\/\/

J’onn held out a mug of hot chocolate to Kara who took it absentmindedly, her gaze fixed on the moon outside; her glasses on her bedside table. J’onn knew by the unfocused gaze that she was listening; for Alex’s heartbeat that he knew she wouldn’t find.

“Eliza’s with Maggie at Alex’s place.” Kara said as she ran her thumb over the rim of her mug.

Alex’s apartment. J’onn muses. She was listening for Maggie then.

“She’s the only noise in Alex’s apartment now.” Kara said in a monotone.

J’onn took a seat next to Kara and placed a hand on her blanket covered knee. “It’s good that she’s not alone.” J’onn said.

Kara turned to face J’onn, giving him what she hoped was some semblance of a smile. It was; somewhat. “You don’t have to take care of me; you deserve to mourn too, you know.” Kara told him. “You lost another daughter.” Kara’s voice cracked and her breath hitched.

J’onn gave her a somber look. “You lost your sister. Your home.”

Kara gave him a teary eyed smile, covering his hand on her knee with her own.

J’onn turned his hand over and gave hers a squeeze.

Kara shifted closer until she could lean her head on J’onn’s shoulder and sobbed quietly into his shoulder.

J’onn held Kara close, rubbing her back, and let a few of his own tears fall into Kara’s hair.

“She was my strength, my hope, my heart.” Kara cried. Kara had felt her heart get ripped out of her chest when her com screeched in her ear when the blast destroyed it. Felt all fight and will to live leave her body when she landed at the edge of the crater once the cloud of synthetic kryptonite from the bombs dissipated somewhat, and found the crater full of burned trees and rubble from the destroyed building that once stood above ground.

“I know.” He buried his nose in her hair and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “She was mine too.”

Kara let herself get lost in J’onn. If she could then maybe she could pretend just for a moment that Alex, her sister, her strength, her heart, was still there. James gave Kara all the time she needed to mourn the loss of Alex; her world, her home. Even Snapper gave his condolences and told her to come back when she was ready. Even Cat called when she heard the news; she had called Kara once she had heard Supergirl and krytonite were involved in the explosion and wanted to make sure Kara was ok, only to have Kara break down in tears when Kara told her the only one to perish in the explosion was her sister.

“I don’t think I can go to the funeral.” Kara whispered once her tears had subsided enough.

“No one is going to force you.” J’onn said.

Kara nodded and a new wave of tears came over her. To be truthful Kara had numbed herself over the past few days, paying little to no attention to anything or anyone else. She was hoping and praying to Rao that CADMUS was playing with them right now and Alex will come back, riding in on her white horse to save the day. But Kara wasn’t the naïve little girl she was thirteen years ago; she was older, more mature, and things like that don’t happen in real life.

Alex was gone and no matter how hard it was to accept, Kara was doing her best, but she couldn’t do it. Alex was her everything. Kara knew Alex was human, but to Kara Alex was a hero, Alex was stronger than Kara; Alex was her hero, Kara’s savior.

Alex made Earth feel like home, Alex made Kara feel as if she belonged. Now, Kara felt more out of place than ever before.

Alex was all that mattered; and she was gone; and Kara blamed herself.

If she had been faster, she could have saved Alex, she could have saved Alex if she had pushed all her limits, she could have swooped in last minute and protected Alex from the blast. She could have…

Alex was gone and it was her fault.

That, Kara accepted.

That was why Kara couldn’t face Eliza, why Kara refused to be in the same room with Maggie. Kara couldn’t face them knowing she failed.

She failed Alex.

Kara hadn’t even looked at her suit since she peeled it off and tossed it into the corner of her room that night after J’onn brought her home after blowing out her powers in the training room; letting loose devastating rays of heat vision and killer blasts of freeze breath, and destroying dozens of boulder sized concrete blocks. How could she go out and be Supergirl if she failed to save Alex?

/\/\/\/

Lena sat in her workshop putting the final touches to her suit. It wasn’t hard to find the blueprints for Lex’s war suit. What was hard was putting it together to fit her in five days; but she was almost done. There were many modifications of course; like making sure kryptonite was replaced by pulse and laser weaponry.

Lena was going to bring CADMUS down, she was going to make sure her mother and everyone involved was brought down.

Lena was going to give Kara the justice she deserved. Seeing the shattered look on Kara’s teary eyed face broke Lena’s heart, and she was going to make her mother and her organization pay for hurting someone as kind and selfless as Kara Danvers.

Lena stepped back with a proud smile on her face as she took in her war suit. It wasn’t as bulky as the original designs, as Lena had a much smaller build than her brother; but it was much smaller, fitting around Lena perfectly and much more durable than it’s bulky counterpart. Lena had designed it to look almost medieval, along with a helmet that had a dark visor and many features she couldn’t wait to test out.

Gone was Lex’s battle ax and in its place were a sword and shield. Lena was going to put her fencing lessons to good use.

Alex Danvers saved her life, now Lena was going to repay the favor by bringing her killers to justice.

/\/\/\/\/

Kara had managed to pull herself out of bed and into the shower the morning of Alex’s funeral. She had to go. She had to face the people she failed and let them know she was sorry and that she failed the one person who believed in her most.

J’onn continued to tell her the entire morning that she didn’t have to go. He stood by her door in a suit as he continued to let her know that she could stay in bed.

“No.” Kara shook her hair. “I have to go.” _I have to face my failure_ ; went unsaid because Kara knew J’onn would tell her it wasn’t her fault. But it was. She wasn’t fast enough. She should have gone with Alex.

Kara and J’onn arrived a few minutes after the service began.

Maggie spotted them first and nudged Eliza who turned and smiled at the sight of them.

Eliza motioned them over and J’onn led a hesitant Kara to the front, stopping briefly for Kara to hug Lena. Kara held onto Lena as if she were the only thing keeping Kara afloat when she felt she was being dragged down in to a vast ocean of darkness and Lena was her light.

J’onn ushered Kara forward, but she refused to leave Lena, taking her hand and pulling Lena forward. Lena willingly followed.

Eliza wrapped her arms around Kara and held her tight. “I’m glad you made it.”

Kara returned the hug but couldn’t understand why Eliza was glad to see her. This was all because she wasn’t fast enough.

Maggie hugged her next and Kara was taken off guard. Maggie shouldn’t be hugging her, she should be glaring and making it known that she blamed Kara.

Kara returned the hug regardless.

Lucy and Vasquez nodded their greeting from behind when J’onn met their eyes. James and Winn stood beside them. Lyra squeezed Winn’s hand and whispered words of comfort.

Mon-El stood in the back, brooding.

No one understood why he was there. He hadn’t been around for Kara since she practically shut herself away from the world a week ago. He didn’t belong there.

/\/\/\/\

Eliza approached Lucy once the service was over. “It was very beautiful, thank you.” Eliza hugged her and then pulled away. “I’m sorry that we dropped all the arrangements on you, we should have done better.”

Lucy waved her off. “I was happy to help, Alex would have wanted me to.”

Eliza just smiled.

Maggie walked up to Kara who stood frozen in front of the still open grave, glaring daggers at the empty coffin.

“It’s good to see you again, Little Danvers.” Maggie said placing a hand on Kara’s shoulder.

“I don’t understand.” Kara whispered. The coffin was empty, Alex was gone, what was the point of her even getting up that morning just to be faced with the brutal reality that Alex was never coming back?

Maggie furrowed her brow in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Why aren’t you blaming me? This is my fault!” Kara shouted. It was, it was all her fault because she wasn’t fast enough, because she let Alex talk her into not going with the strike team. If she had only argued and insisted more, Alex would be here, they wouldn’t be standing over a grave with an empty coffin.

Eliza, J’onn, Lucy, Vasquez, James, Winn, Lena, and even Mon-El snapped their heads to Kara; being the last of the remaining guests.

Eliza rushed over and wrapped her arms around Kara’s shoulders. “What are you talking about, sweetie?” Eliza asked, concern taking over her features and dripping from her words.

“I wasn’t fast enough. If I had just gone a bit faster I could have saved her! If I had just gone with her instead of listening to her when she told me it wasn’t necessary! It was a CADMUS base, I should have gone regardless!” Kara shouted, tears falling freely.

Maggie cast a quick glance at Lena before she turned her full attention to Kara. “No, Little Danvers, Kara, this is not your fault! Alex wouldn’t want you to blame yourself for this, CADMUS did this, not you.”

“I should have been there, I should have saved her!” Kara sobbed.

Winn awkwardly jabbed his thumb toward the cars. “Uh, maybe we should get out of here.” He told Lena who shook her head.

“No.” Lena made her way over.

Eliza’s heart broke even more at the choked sobs that came from her youngest, that shook not only Kara’s body, but Eliza’s as well. “Kara, Alex was taken from us by CADMUS, you did your best to save her, and we all know that; Alex knew that.” Eliza said firmly, her words came out shaky as she fought back tears. “Alex wouldn’t want you to blame yourself, sweetie, she’d want you to mourn, to celebrate her life, and keep living.” Eliza said.

“Eliza’s right.” Maggie agreed. “Alex would kick all our asses if we ever let you believe this was your fault. She’d want us to look out for each other and keep fighting.” Maggie joined the hug sandwiching Kara between her and Eliza.

J’onn placed a comforting hand on Kara’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze he knew she would feel. “Alex would want us all to be strong and continue her fight, that’s how she would want us to honor her.”

Lena stopped a few feet away. The four looked up at her. “I uh, just wanted to say that I’m sorry for all that my family has done to yours. I know that won’t bring Alex back or make anything better; but I’m going to help, I want to help. Alex saved my life and I never got to repay her.” Lena looked Kara in the eye. “Anything I can give to help, it’s yours…Supergirl.”

Kara pulled away from her family who have all gone on the defensive. J’onn’s expression hardened, Eliza took a step in front of Kara, Maggie stepped in front of Eliza with her hand reaching for her glock, Vasquez reached for her own firearm, and Lucy leveled Lena with a glare that could make a grown man cry.

“How?” Kara asked, not even bothering to deny it. She was too damn tired to deny it.

Lena gave her a comforting smile. “I have always seen you, Kara; with or without the cape. Your secret is safe with me.”

Kara stepped out of her family’s protective circle and gathered Lena in her arms. “Thank you.” Kara sniffled.

“I meant it before; Kara Danvers, you are my hero.” Lena said, hugging Kara tight.

/\/\/\/\

They all gathered at Kara’s apartment; J’onn and Lucy made sure Lena would make an appearance at the DEO the next day to sign all the required NDAs on the way.

Eliza brought all the photo albums out and began telling the stories behind them.

“I remember this!” Kara exclaimed, pointing to a photo of Jeremiah and Alex covered in cake and frosting. Kara stood beside them looking sheepish.

Eliza laughed. “So do I, it was your first earth birthday with us. You weren’t all that happy but you humored us, and you were still getting a hold on your abilities that when it came time to blow out the candles you ended up blowing the whole cake into Alex and Jeremiah.”

Kara giggled. “They were not happy.”

“I remember Alex scraped some cake off her arm and rubbed it in your face in retaliation.” Eliza smiled. She turned the page and laughed. “Here it is.”

The photo showed a shocked Kara with her eyes shut as Alex dragged a handful of cake down Kara’s face. Jeremiah stood beside them, his finger in his mouth, tasting cake he wiped off his cheek.

The others laughed.

“That wasn’t the only cake mishap.” Kara mused.

Eliza shook her head with a fond smile on her face. “No, it wasn’t.”

Kara curled further into Eliza. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”

Eliza pulled Kara closer. “I know, sweetie.”

Maggie reached over and rubbed Kara’s arm. “Alex never showed signs of fear when faced with danger.”

Lucy nodded her agreement. “Didn’t even bat an eyelash when she lied straight to my face and managed to trick a lie detector when faced with treason charges.”

“Danvers always came off as untouchable to most agents.” Vasquez added.

“She was the best.” J’onn said.

Winn wrapped his arm tighter around Lyra’s waist, Lyra was sat in his lap, stroking the back of his hand in a soothing motion. “It was like nothing could take her down.”

“She was our strength.” James put in.

“We are her legacy and we are going to do her proud.” Kara sniffled.

Mon-el, who everyone had forgotten was there until he open his big mouth, stepped out from the corner he was brooding in. “Does that mean we are done being sad? Because I for one cannot take any more depressed looks.”

Everyone stared at him with varying degrees of shock and anger.

It was Lena who spoke first. “What the hell is wrong with you? They just lost their family, their friend! And you can’t even show a bit of sympathy?”

Mon-el raised his hands in surrender. “Look, I just don’t get why everyone is so sad, Alex died; it’s been a week, why can’t we just move on?” He really didn’t understand. Alex died, they paid their respects, why were they dwelling on it?

Kara scoffed. “Typical Daxamite, not caring for anyone but themselves.”

Mon-el gave her an incredulous look. “You can say that to me after all we’ve been through, I’ve changed! For you!” Mon-el yelled.

Kara stood up. “You don’t get it! Alex was our family. This isn’t Daxam where you mourn for a day and move on, we actually have feelings here! And changing for someone is the wrong reason to change!” Kara yelled.

“I’m trying!” Mon-el yelled back.

“Not hard enough!” Kara shook her head. “Just get out, Mon-el, I don’t want to see you right now. Or ever again.”

Mon-el gasped. “Are you breaking up with me?!”

Kara nodded. “Yes.”

“What?! Because Alex died? How is that my fault?!” Mon-el shouted.

Before anyone could move or even react J’onn had Mon-el two feet off the ground, his green hand wrapped around Mon-el’s neck.

“You were asked to leave!” J’onn growled.

“Let go of me, J’onn!” Mon-el stammered, trying to get free of J’onn’s grip.

“How dare you!” J’onn growled. “She just lost her sister and you dare make this about you?!” J’onn lifted Mon-el higher and tightened his grip.

“I’m sorry!” Mon-el chocked out.

Kara stood. “J’onn put him down.”

J’onn snapped his head to Kara and gave her an incredulous look but complied anyway.

Mon-el took a deep breath and stepped toward Kara. “Thank you.” J’onn stepped in his way; he refused to let Mon-el near his last daughter. “Kara?”

“I am breaking up with you Mon-el.” Kara said. “Now please, just go.” She pointed to the door and Mon-el glanced around the room looking for any sympathy.

“I don’t believe this!” Mon-el exclaimed. “I changed for you and you just used me to do what you wanted! I tried to be there for you but you just pushed me away! I-“

Mon-el was cut off by a burst of heat vision hitting him square in the chest causing him to stumble back and land on his butt.

Everyone snapped their heads in Kara’s direction to see her eyes glowing. Her glasses were in Maggie’s lap where she had thrown them.

“Get out!” Kara seethed. “Get out and never come back here again!”

Mon-el looked around and scrambled to his feet, saying nothing as he ran out of the apartment.

Vasquez holstered her gun and huffed. “Should have let me shoot him.”

Lucy hushed her as Eliza quickly gathered Kara in her arms. Kara’s eyes returned to normal as she buried her face in Eliza’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry about him, I thought he was trying to be better. I’m sorry.” Kara sobbed into Eliza’s shoulder.

“Shh, shh, you cannot blame his actions on yourself, he made his choices.” Eliza soothed her.

“Man, and to think I actually tried to help that guy learn about earth!” Winn exclaimed; disgusted with Mon-el.

“Alex was never fond of him.” Maggie commented.

Kara looked at Maggie. “Alex never said anything.”

Maggie stood up and held Kara’s glasses out to her. “Because Alex didn’t want to upset you.”

Kara sniffled as she put her glasses back on, silencing the sounds of the city and bringing her full attention to her apartment.

Maggie picked up the photo album and attempted to lighten the mood, tonight was supposed to be a smooth night where they told stories about Alex and celebrated everything Alex. Man-hell was not going to ruin that.

“Are there any photos of Alex’s punk rock phase?” Maggie asked. Alex had always joked that she would take those photos to the grave; Maggie never thought she would make good on it, and not so soon.

The night got better after that.


	2. Strength and Unpaid Debts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vasquez is there for Lucy (some cuteness)  
> Maggie does her best to be strong for Kara (while hiding her pain)  
> Winn is a good  
> Lena tries to do right by Alex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bit overwhelmed at the response to this fic  
> I love that you are enjoying this and giving it a chance  
> so a very big THANK YOU to everyone reading this

CHAPTER 2

Lucy stood in the doorway of Alex’s lab with a frown etched deeply across her features. It was almost midnight and Lucy had stopped by the lab as she usually would at this time to tell Alex to go home when she was engrossed in a sample or experiment.

Speaking of experiments.

There was an explosion earlier that afternoon that had sent two agents to medical and multiple forms to HR. When Lucy was handing the forms over Pam made a comment on how _‘this wouldn’t have happened with Agent Danvers’_ and Lucy couldn’t have agreed more.

So there Lucy was staring at a slightly charred lab, Alex’s usual station was a mess now. The other lab techs had kept it clean and tidy in honor of their fallen friend, but the explosion had melted part of the metal table top, destroyed Alex’s stool, and the picture Alex kept on the desk of her family, the same one Lucy has seen on Alex’s mantle and Kara’s side table; the four Danvers’ on the porch of their Midvale home, arms around each other, smiling, and happy; was in Lucy’s hand; the frame and glass was somewhere amongst the mess on the floor.

It just felt like things were continuously falling apart around the DEO without Alex around. Everything felt so wrong.

It was the day after Alex’s funeral for Gods’ sake!

A hand was placed on Lucy’s shoulder and she looked up to see the soft, concerned eyes of Susan Vasquez.

Well, maybe not everything.

“The lab should be cleaned up by the morning. Go home, Director, and get some sleep.” Vasquez told her, her voice soft.

Lucy nodded and turned away from the lab. She stopped after two steps. She turned around. “You, too.” Lucy said.

Vasquez furrowed her brow. “Ma’am?”

Lucy shook her head. “It’s Lucy, _Susan_ , and you should go home, too.”

Vasquez smiled. “One condition.”

Lucy quirked a brow in challenge. “What?”

“Have breakfast with me.” Vasquez said, a shy smirk on her face, nervous of Lucy’s answer.

Lucy was taken aback but she smiled. “Like a date?”

Vasquez nodded. “Yeah.”

Lucy’s smile turned into a full blown grin. “Deal.”

Vasquez stepped up so she was shoulder to shoulder with Lucy and extended her elbow.

Lucy giggled and looked down bashfully before she brought her hand up to rest in the crook of Vasquez’s elbow.

J’onn watched the two leave with a smile on his face and made a mental note to remind Lucy to see Pam in HR tomorrow.

/\/\/\/\/\

It had been two days since Alex’s funeral.

Day one after the funeral Kara had tried to go back to work but left early when all she could hear were stories about where Supergirl had gone and theories about Supergirl perishing in the explosion.

‘Well they weren’t wrong.’ Kara had thought. A part of her did die that night; the biggest and best part.

Day two after the funeral found Kara curled up on her couch, wrapped in her softest blanket and Alex’s worn Stanford sweater after returning from dropping Eliza off at the airport. Kara had offered to fly Eliza home herself, but Eliza declined.

The news was playing on mute; another coverage with the headline: ‘Where’s Supergirl?’ as they showed footage of a bank robbery from earlier in the morning before they switched to footage from the day of the explosion, a fire raging in the mountains, a cloud of green mixing in with the black and gray smoke.

Crime rates had risen since Kara refused to put her suit and cape back on; it was still crumpled in the corner collecting dust.

Kara just didn’t feel comfortable or confident enough to put the suit back on. She didn’t feel strong enough; without Alex Kara felt so weak, so defeated.

Kara moved from her couch to her window. She pushed the window open and sat on the window sill. She looked down and watched cars and people pass by. Those people who talk about loos have obviously never experienced it in its truest form. Kara lost everything she knew when she was thirteen years old and her parents put her in a pod. She was a little girl with no home, and no world. The black mercy forced Kara to experience losing her family and planet for a second time.

But this one, this loss, took the fucking cake.

Kara will be the first person to defend Alex at the drop of a hat, but she will also be the first to accept that Alex had her flaws; Kara was full of them herself; but the point was Alex had no reason to accept her. Alex wasn’t obligated to look after Kara the day Kal-el left Kara with the Danvers family. Yes, Eliza and Jeremiah told Alex to look after Kara, but Alex didn’t have too; and she didn’t; not at first. Kara will admit that they hadn’t gotten close till after Jeremiah’s disappearance. They could no longer call it his death.

Alex helped her assimilate into Earth culture, helped her with her powers, and held her when she had nightmares. Alex asked Kara to tell her about Krypton-she had told Kara it was so Kara wouldn’t forget, but Kara saw the wide eyed interest, Alex loved learning new things-and even asked Kara to teach her some Kryptonese just so Kara wouldn’t forget how to speak her native tongue.

Kara smiled as she remembered nights sitting on the roof, teaching Alex simple phrases, and giggling at Alex’s poor accent; Alex’s accent was better than Kal’s by the time Kara stopped teaching Alex. If there was one subject Kara was absolute shit at, it was English. Sure she managed to learn the language in a day, but verbs and adjectives, confused the hell out of her, not to mention the words that were spelled the same but pronounced differently and had different meanings. Those words Kara detested. But Alex had always been there, correcting Kara’s spelling mistakes and verbs.

Kara had told Alex that the science fairs were boring, and she wasn’t lying, but the only reason she continued to go was so she could spend time with Alex. Having been an only child, like most children on Krypton, Kara was overjoyed at the idea of a sister.

Kara had felt so out of place on this planet but Alex made it better. The closer Kara and Alex had gotten, the less it hurt to think of Krypton; because Kara had another home, another family. She had Alex; and of course, Eliza.

Alex who would always know when Kara was sad or happy; Alex who could take one look at Kara and know when something was bothering her; Alex who knew when Kara needed a hug or to punch something; or both.

Alex who made this new, foreign, and terrifying world feel like home.

Alex was Kara’s heart; so how was she to go on without it?

She tore her gaze from the street below when a knock came at her door. She squinted just a little bit, seeing Maggie on the other side of the door.

“It’s open.” She called.

Maggie stepped in, a bag of take out in her hand, and shut the door; glancing at the multiple locks on the door. What was the point of having more than one and not…okay, Kara was Supergirl. Still, what was the point of a secret identity if anyone could walk in at a moment’s notice?

“You and Alex have the same bad habit of not locking your doors.” Maggie commented as she approached the couch.

Kara shrugged. “Alex is, was, a trained secret ops agent.” Kara gave a small smile. “She would nag me all the time when she came over and found the door unlocked, never acknowledging the fact that I got it from her.”

Maggie sat the bag of take out on the coffee table. “Like the hands on your hips stance?” Maggie asked as she pulled a container of food out and motioned for Kara to join her on the couch.

Kara chuckled and stood from the window sill; she walked over to the couch and dropped next to Maggie. “Yeah. She’s my hero.” She took the container Maggie was holding out to her and happily dug in.

Kara narrowed her eyes when she noticed Maggie pull out a triple order of pot stickers.

“What do you want?” she asked as she pulled apart her chopsticks.

Maggie furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?” Maggie asked as Kara put a piece of broccoli in her mouth.

Kara finished chewing. She may be exhausted and depressed, and she would never turn down any kind of food, but Kara knew a bribe when she saw one; and they most certainly came in the form of extra pot stickers or ice cream. And sometimes pizza.

“Extra pot stickers.” Kara pointed with her chopsticks.

Maggie looked down at the table and sighed. “Okay, you got me.” Maggie held up her hands and dropped them to her thighs. “I thought the extra pot stickers would help butter you up so you don’t get too mad at me when I brought it up. Look, Guardian and J’onn, they’ve been doing a great job keeping up, but we, the city needs Supergirl.”

Kara shook her head vehemently. “I couldn’t save Alex, the one person who means everything to me; how can I keep trying to save the city knowing I failed when it mattered most?” Kara spoke with her hands and nearly dropped her food everywhere. “How do you do it?”

Maggie paused in opening her container; it was a rather vague question. “Do what?”

“Get up and go about your day knowing Alex won’t be there at the end of it?”

Maggie gently took the container of food from Kara, placed it on the coffee table, and reached out to grasp Kara’s hand.

“Because you know Alex wouldn’t want you to give up.” Maggie pulled Kara to her and Kara let herself be pulled, resting her head on Maggie’s lithe shoulder. Rao she was small. “The first day all I did was try to drink away the pain and lay in bed and deny it happened. I wanted to believe it was a dream even though it felt like someone had reached into my chest and ripped my heart out.”

“That’s how I feel all the time.” Kara cut in.

Maggie rubbed Kara’s shoulder. “I know; but as I was lying there hungover and hating myself, I realized that Alex wouldn’t want me to waste my days away grieving like that. I get up and face the day because I know that’s what Alex would want me to do; she’d want me to keep fighting. She’d want that for you too.”

Kara sniffled, not even realizing that she had started crying. “I miss her so much.”

Maggie pulled her closer. “I know, I do too.” Maggie pressed a kiss to the top of Kara’s head.

/\/\/\/

After the two cried it out they finished their food and then Kara picked her suit off the floor.

Kara ran her hand over her family crest; Alex’s voice in her head.

_“You’ve always had the heart of a hero, Kara, before you ever put on that ‘S.’”_

Maggie stepped into the bedroom and watched Kara stare at the suit in her hands. She didn’t know what to say to Kara that could help encourage her. When it came to giving Kara pep talks Alex was the best; and Cat, so Maggie had heard. They hadn’t known each other long and Maggie didn’t know how to be an older sibling, but Maggie always felt a deep fondness for Kara; after all she was Alex’s little sister and Maggie was fond of all the Danvers women.

Maggie took a deep breath. Alex might not be here for her anymore, but Maggie was going to be. If there was one person in the world that Alex would want Maggie to look out for it was Kara. Maggie watched Kara at the DEO the day Alex died. She watched Kara beat the hell out of the training room, she watched Kara wail and plead to Rao to bring Alex back as she cradled a bloody fist to her chest after hitting the cinderblock as hard as she could once her powers went out; while J’onn held her close, saying nothing because even though he knew the loss of a daughter, he knew nothing he said in that moment would have helped Kara.

“I know I gave that whole speech about getting up and moving forward, but you don’t have to jump right back in it; just picking up the suit is a step forward. You’re allowed to take baby steps, Kara.” Maggie said.

Kara nodded, indicating that she was listening, but she said nothing. “Did Alex ever tell you what the ‘S’ stands for?”

Maggie stepped forward. “She said it wasn’t an ‘S,’ that it was your family crest, it is also the Kryptonian symbol for hope, and something about El Mayarah?”

Kara smiled and nodded. “It’s my family motto, El Mayarah, it means ‘Stronger together;’ and we are.” Kara stepped forward and pulled Maggie into a hug; suit still in hand. “This past week you have been the strongest one here. Thank you.”

Maggie returned the hug. “I don’t know if Alex ever told you about my family, I haven’t really had one since I was fourteen and my dad kicked me out; it was just me and my aunt. You, Alex, and Eliza, you became my family, so thank you, for letting me be.” She grunted when Kara tightened her grip.

“Oops!” Kara let up her grip but still held onto Maggie. “Sorry.” She pulled away. “Maggie, you’ve been family since the day Alex came home with a smile that wouldn’t leave her face. You’re always going to be family.”

Maggie pulled away and sniffled. “Thanks, Little Danvers.”

Kara smiled as Maggie wiped her eyes. “El Mayarah.”

Maggie smiled up at her. “El Mayarah.” She echoed.

/\/\/\/\

And ok, so Maggie wasn’t really handling it a well as she led Kara to believe.

She drank at the bar until she had to call an Uber home and she knew she wouldn’t dream, because her dreams were cruel, in her dreams, she had Alex; only to wake up to a world Alex no longer existed in.

Maggie flagged down the bartender and she tried not to smile when she watched Mon-el flinch every time she looked his way, but after how he acted, Maggie found a sort of mean satisfaction to the fear in the Daxamite’s eyes; he was well aware of the lead bullets in Maggie’s gun.

Maggie gave the bartender that wasn’t Mon-el a smile as he placed another tequila shot in front of her. Work was shit, she could hardly focus and her boss won’t let her out in the field till the massive stack of paperwork that was almost as tall as her forearm was long, was finished.

She knew she shouldn’t drink her liver into failure at a bar frequented by her friends, but they needed someone who would be strong, someone who would hold them while they cry, and be their support as they went through what had to be the worst time of their lives. She didn’t worry about Mon-el telling anyone; they wouldn’t give him the time of day. Maggie had only known Alex for months, but damn it all to hell if she wasn’t in love with Alex.

Maggie tossed back her shot, feeling the warmth travel down her throat and settle in her stomach. She was about to order another when a flash of blonde hair, a plaid shirt, and broad shoulders passed through her peripherals. She turned and spotted Lyra, James, and Winn making their way to a booth.

 _Damn it_ , Maggie thought. Seeing them here was just another reminder that her place had turned into _her and Alex’s_ place, and it then turned into a _their_ place when all their-Alex’s-friends, and Kara joined them.

Lyra caught her eyes first and waved. Winn and James turned to see who Lyra was waving at and smiled when they spotted her. Maggie gave her own half-assed wave back and turned back to the bar.

Flagging the bartender down, Maggie pulled her wallet from her pocket and pulled out enough bills to settle her tab.

“Hey.”

Maggie looked up and was greeted by Winn’s smiling face.

“Hey.” she greeted.

Winn motioned to the booth, Lyra and James were seated at. “You’re welcome to join us, we’d love to have you.”

Maggie smiled at him as the bartender handed her back her change. “I’d love to, but I got an early morning tomorrow.” Maggie said.

Winn smiled, unconvinced. “Alright. Uh, I know we aren’t close and all, but Alex, she was like my sister, and I…uh…I…” Winn took a deep and shaky breath, eyes glistening with tears that would go unshed. “She loved you, and if you ever need anything or anyone to talk to, I’m here.”

Maggie smiled as she tried to process Winn’s words; tears threatening to fall. “Thank you.”

Winn opened his arms as if he was going to hug her and then stepped back, wringing his hands together uncertain.

Maggie made the decision for him and wrapped her arms around him.

Winn hesitantly wrapped his arms around her much smaller frame and exhaled. “We’re all here for you, Maggie.”

Maggie squeezed him quick and whispered. “Goodnight, Winn.” She pulled away, sniffled, grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair, and left the bar.

_Stupid Winn, and his stupid words._

Maggie needed to find a new bar.

Winn watched her till she stepped through the door before he rejoined Lyra and James.

“Is she okay?” James asked.

Winn shrugged and then nodded. “Yeah, she’ll be fine.” He didn’t sound so sure and he definitely didn’t feel sure.

James and Lyra left it be.

/\/\/\/\/\

Maggie dropped her duffle bag onto the floor by the front door and kicked her shoes off in the middle of the entry way. She had practically been living at Alex’s apartment ever since that night never finding it in herself to go home to her own apartment. But how could she go home when home was right here, in this apartment, wrapped in Alex’s arms? By all things holy, it was going to kill Maggie the day they had to box up everything and move it out of the apartment.

Maggie didn’t even know if anyone had informed the landlord of Alex’s passing. Kara hadn’t stepped foot into the apartment since before _that night_ and Maggie was kind of thankful for that. It meant Kara would never see her falling apart. She couldn’t fall apart right now, not until she knew everyone was okay; then maybe she’d allow herself the proper time to fall apart; away from prying eyes.

Maggie walked into the kitchen, poured herself a glass of scotch, and downed it in three large gulps. She grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and walked to the bed. She stripped out of her jeans and flopped onto the mattress that no longer held Alex’s fragrance.

/\/\/\/\

The next day Maggie was sat at her desk doing paperwork. Hung over and keeping her head down, Maggie hadn’t seen who walked into the precinct, but she noticed all the noise cease.

“Thank you, officer.”

Maggie snapped her head up. What was Lena Luthor doing here? One would think after her brief stint in prison and the accusations of all, Lena wouldn’t step foot in any precinct if she could avoid it. So what was she doing here, at Maggie’s precinct, in front of Maggie’s desk? Maggie was too hungover to care, really.

“What are you doing here, Luthor?” Maggie leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. Lena might be Kara’s friend, and keeping the Supergirl secret, but Maggie was suspicious. Kara trusted the CEO, but Maggie was going to keep her guard up because Alex would never forgive her if Lena did in fact have ulterior motives and it got passed Maggie. Squinting helped her headache apparently, Maggie found as she narrowed her eyes.

Lena sighed. She understood Maggie’s hesitation. She was a Luthor after all.  “I understand that you don’t trust me, despite everything, but I am here to help. I can promise you that, Detective.”

Maggie motioned to the chair in front of her desk with a wave of her hand.

Lena sat.

“So what is it?” Maggie asked; she straightened up.

“I was wondering how I could help the NCPD.” Lena said.

Maggie raised a brow.

Lena backtracked. “I mean, I could easily go to the mayor and give the NCPD a large donation, but you and I know that not all of the money will be utilized for what it should be for.” Maggie nodded her head with a look that told Lena she agreed but she wasn’t going to say anything. “So what do you, as the Science division need to help better protect our city from alien threats?” Lena asked.

Maggie looked her over. “Alright.” Lena pulled out a notepad and a pen. Maggie almost laughed at the action, it reminded her so much of Kara. “We could use better Kevlar. They can take a bullet but it hurts like a bitch, and while our Kevlar is high grade we are as susceptible to electrocution, pulse blasts, fire, talons, and teeth.”

Lena looked up from her notes and furrowed her brow. “Teeth?”

Maggie nodded. “Yes, there are some aliens with very sharp teeth.”

Lena nodded and finished her note. “Anything else?”

“Many aliens are impervious to bullets, we could use better tasers for those people, or something that could immobilize them without hurting them; there is no reason to give them more reason to fear us humans being a threat because of their fear for the many anti-alien folks out there.”

Lena nodded along and continued to take notes. She could engineer some slime or foam that expanded and solidified, immobilizing hostiles. She could also build an expandable cage that could give hostiles an electric shock if they tried to escape.

Maggie continued to tell Lena what could be helpful to the police for almost an hour.

“Why are you doing this?” Maggie asked as Lena put away her notes and stood.

Lena shouldered her purse. “Walk me out?”

Maggie nodded and grabbed her jacket from behind her chair.

“Kara came to visit me after Supergirl saved me.” Lena said as they walked. “She told me that she was angry at you for how you treated me when you came to arrest me.” Maggie pulled a face and opened her mouth but Lena held a hand up and continued. “But couldn’t be too mad at you because of how happy you made Alex.” Lena paused as they walked through the security check point doors.

Maggie held the door open and Lena thanked her.

“Alex saved my life.” Lena continued as they stepped outside. “I never got the chance to thank her properly. I owe her my life, Detective. I am doing this because I can’t bring her back, but I can keep you safe while you keep our city safe, because I believe that’s what Alex would want.”

A black car pulled to a stop in front of the curb.

“Have a good day, Detective.”

Lena got into the car and Maggie watched it drive away.

What the hell would Luthor know about what Alex would have wanted?

Maggie kicked the toe of her boot against the concrete sidewalk before she turned on her heel and headed back inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you can also find me on tumblr: cchasing-the-sunn


	3. Bets and Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the two week anniversary of Alex's death and everyone is handling it in their own way.  
> Lucy and Vasquez visit Pam in HR.  
> It's the happy moments that help you get through tragedy.

CHAPTER 3

J’onn stopped in front of the three foot headstone and placed a hand on top of its rounded top.

“It’s been eleven days since you left us.” J’onn began as he placed a pretty bouquet arrangement on the ground in front of the headstone. He knelt there and ran his fingertips over Alex’s name.

_‘Alexandra Danvers_

_Beloved daughter, sister, and friend_

_Always a fighter, even at the end_

_1989 – 2017’_

“We’re barely making it through the days that pass. But we’re looking after Kara, I promise you that. Your mother as well, Maggie calls to chat with her, but I don’t know what I can say to Eliza.” J’onn admitted as he dropped his hand down to his side.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was harder than he anticipated.

Clearing his throat, he continued. “I don’t know what to say because it is because of me she lost her husband, and now her daughter; even after I promised your father I’d look after you.” He sniffed. “I failed your father, and I failed you, but I won’t fail Kara. Not like I failed my wife and daughters.”

He had lost two daughters in his lifetime; that did nothing to help dull the pain of losing a third; it only cut deeper. When he met Jeremiah and he asked for him to look after his two girls J’onn hadn’t hesitated to say yes. He knew the pain of losing your children; back then when he promised Jeremiah he also promised Eliza; promised that she would never have to feel the pain of losing her children along with her husband. That pain never truly went away.

J’onn straightened up, his gaze locked on the tombstone. “Thank you, Alex, for giving me something I never thought I would find again. Thank you for giving me a family.”

J’onn transformed and took off into the sky.

/\/\/\/\

The two week mark for Alex’s death was a quiet day amongst the Superfam.

They all had their own things before they would meet later that night for drinks at the bar.

Maggie was lying in bed, still in her pajamas, and had only gotten up to use that bathroom since she woke three hours prior to go for her morning run; that she never got up for.

Maggie ignored the knock when it came. She ignored the second one as well, perfectly fine just lying in bed and calculating how long was enough to convince the Superfam she was handling her grief before leaving to come back to Alex’s apartment and drink her dreams away.

The third knock was more insistent and J’onn’s voice followed.

“Detective, I know you’re there.”

Maggie contemplated getting up.

“Maggie.”

Right, psychic. She almost started panicking. Did he hear her thoughts about her plans tonight? Does he know how she’s been dealing? Maggie immediately shut those thoughts up and focused her mind on something else as she got up and trudged to the door.

Maggie pulled open the door and leaned against it. “Director.”

J’onn held up a hand. “I’m here as a friend, it’s just J’onn.”

Maggie nodded and stepped away from the door. “Would you like to come in?”

J’onn stepped in and Maggie shut the door behind him. J’onn held out a folded paper for Maggie to take. Maggie looked at it uncertainly but took it from J’onn tentatively.

“What’s this?”

“An agent in legal managed to get control over Alex’s lease and have it turned over to the DEO. You’re welcome to stay, Maggie, but do you really think this is healthy?” J’onn asked and then motioned around the apartment that was pretty much the same except for the presence of Maggie’s shoes on the floor, her jackets on the coat rack and on the back of the couch, and Maggie’s duffle bags of clothes.

Maggie was shocked and thankful for the news that the apartment wasn’t going to be packed up and rented out to someone else, but she was not in the mood for J’onn’s judgement on how she grieved.

“Maybe not.” Maggie answered, her expression hardened. “But it helps.” And it did. Being in the apartment was like having a piece of Alex with her. Alex’s apartment had started to feel more like home to her than any place she had lived before.

J’onn nodded, his face showing nothing but understanding. “Ok. If that’s what you need. But if you need anything else, you just need to ask.” J’onn wasn’t judging Maggie on her choices, but he was concerned for her wellbeing; he had picked up a few worry some thoughts over the past two weeks.

Maggie nodded and decided to bite the bullet. “Uh, your mind reading…you don’t hear everything, do you?” Maggie asked.

J’onn shook his head and Maggie almost sagged in relief. “I can tune it out unless someone is thinking too loud.”

“Thinking too loud?” Maggie asked. God she hoped her thoughts weren’t that loud. How loud were Alex’s thought in order for J’onn to know they were dating? The thought almost brought a smile to her face; knowing that Alex thought about them-about her-so much that J’onn could hear those thoughts and figure out they were dating.

“I don’t mean to hear everyone’s thoughts, but sometimes they are thinking about something so much or so hard that it projects and I can hear it.” J’onn explained.

“Oh.”

J’onn chuckled. “I respect people’s privacy, Maggie.” He said, his eyes full of mirth.

Maggie nodded. “Oh, yeah, of course, I know, I just…” she stammered out.

J’onn placed a hand on her shoulder. “Again, if you need anything, just ask.”

Maggie nodded and looked down at the lease papers in her hand. “I uh, I can pay you back for this. You guys don’t have to pay for the rent.” Maggie started to calculate payments in her head, she still had her own rent to worry about, and groceries, and etc.

J’onn waved her off. “The DEO can handle it. Besides, your lease isn’t up for another five months.”

Maggie looked at him confused. How did he…right. “Was I thinking about it too loud?”

J’onn smiled and nodded. “Yes.”

“Got it.” She tapped the folded paper in her hand to the palm of her free hand. “Thank you, again, for this.”

J’onn patted her shoulder. “No need to thank me. Will we be seeing you tonight?” J’onn asked.

Maggie forced a smile. “Of course.”

J’onn gave one final nod and left.

Maggie locked the door and sagged against it in relief.

/\/\/\/\

Winn smiled up at the waitress as she placed his and Lyra’s food in front of them. “Thank you.”

The waitress smiled in response. “Can I get you anything else?”

“No, thank you.” Winn told her.

“Enjoy.” The waitress left with a smile.

Lyra dug into her stack of pancakes immediately; the action made Winn smile fondly at her. She was as enthusiastic about food as Kara was.

Winn realized he was staring and turned his attention to the hash browns in front of him.

“I know you said you were fine when I asked you earlier, but how are you really feeling?” Lyra asked a moment later. Her stack of pancakes half gone.

Winn gave her a sort of confused look, swallowed his mouthful, and pondered his response. He could tell her he was fine, or he could tell her the truth. He looked back to all his friends’ relationships that had secrets. James and Lucy broke up, Alex almost lost Maggie…yeah, the truth worked.

“I don’t feel that great.” It almost felt good to say it. But he was trying to be strong. He needed to be. Alex would be the strong one if anything happened to them. “I don’t think I’ve processed it really. I keep holding this hope that Alex will come back; either because CADMUS took her, or because some rip in space took her to another earth and she’s fighting to get back…” He trailed off when she saw the sad look on Lyra’s face. “And all that sounds pathetic.” He finished softly.

But he did believe it; no matter how pathetic it might seem. A rule of sci-fi: if there’s no body they aren’t dead.

But this wasn’t some sci-fi flick, this was real life.

Lyra shook her head. “No! No, no, no, it’s not pathetic to hold out hope.” Lyra told him and reached across the table to take his hand. “Any hope, no matter the kind, is still hope.”

Tears brimmed in Winn’s eyes. She could have shot him down and told him he was pathetic. She could have said anything else, but she didn’t.

“Thank you.” His voice cracked slightly and Lyra smiled at him.

“It is also not a weakness to cry.” Lyra continued. “I understand that we are staying strong for Kara and Maggie, but crying is not a sign of weakness.”

Winn nodded and sniffled, using his free hand to wipe his eyes. “Yeah, you’re right, you’re right.” He looked down at his plate. “Uh, let’s eat before our food gets cold.”

Lyra smiled, released Winn’s hand, and went back to her food.

/\/\/\/\

“You have to go see Pam in HR.”

Was said so casually and between shots that Lucy almost didn’t hear him; but it did throw her off and she missed her paper target completely.

“What are you talking about?” Lucy asked as she lowered her assault rifle.

J’onn fired off a few rounds and lowered his own rifle. He placed the gun down on the shelf in front of him.

He and Lucy had been in the armory for almost an hour at the firing range that took up the other half.

J’onn lowered his ear muffs and Lucy did the same, placing her gun down.

“You’re dating a co-worker, Lucy, policy states that you have to fill out the proper forms in triplicate.”

“We’ve only been on like, three dates!” Lucy protested. She wasn’t going to ask how he knew, she knew how he knew. But she had hoped that J’onn would give her more time before he tried to send her to Pam; who Lucy had been getting rather acquainted with since some idiot was sending Lucy down to her for forms and what not almost every other day with their stupidity. Honestly, how did they even get jobs here if all they are good at is ruining half of Alex’s on going experiments that she never finished?

“You are also her superior.” J’onn pointed out.

Lucy grumbled and put her ear muff back on. She lifted her gun and aimed. “I’ll go see Pam before lunch.” Lucy muttered and tried to remember the name of that Café Pam got her Danishes from.

Protocol could really suck sometimes.

/\/\/\/

James was walking to his office when he caught sight of Kara leaning over some notes and photos on the large table in the journalists’ office. He backpedaled and knocked on her door.

“Hey.”

Kara looked up and adjusted her glasses. “Hi.”

“Uh…” James glanced around the room. “What are you doing here?”

Kara furrowed her brow. “I work here?” Kara said.

James huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, no, I know, I meant, you have the day off.” His faced morphed into a concerned expression. “I did make sure you got the day off, right?” He started to shuffle the folders in his arms to find his planner.

“James!” He stopped. “I did have the day off, but I can’t keep staying home and moping. I have to get up and move.”

James looked like he was about to protest, but the word that came out of his mouth were far from a protest. “Ok.”

Kara nodded. “Ok.”

James walked to his office and shook his head as he went. He was glad that Kara believed she had to be up and a work, but he would love for her to return to her other job as well.

Kara released a heavy sigh once James was out of earshot. She was tired; exhausted even, just getting out of bed was a feat in and of itself. Kara persisted though. Today sucked, but she was also very tired of everyone trying to take care of her. She lost her parents, her planet, her culture, and she survived. She was going to survive this.

At least she was going to fake it till she made it. Her friends had practically placed things on hold the first week trying to be there for Kara and they had all just started to move on slowly and stop checking up on her every single day. Kara was going to fake it because even though this was tearing her apart from the inside, she was going to at the very least, get her friends to believe she was healing.

/\/\/\/\

“I can’t believe J’onn is making us do this.” Vasquez grumbled as she and Lucy rode the elevator to HR. She wasn’t upset, she just did her best to avoid HR. She and Alex had to see Pam for many forms and reasons in the past and when you are sent down to HR with Alex Danvers the outcome was pretty iffy.

Lucy sighed and leaned against the wall behind her, the paper bag that held Pam’s Danish clutched in hand; like hell she was showing up in HR for the fifth time that week empty handed, it was the end of the week at least so Pam couldn’t be that made at her. Lucy wondered how many vacation days Pam had and if she ever took them, because dealing with all that they bring her, she deserved to take a nice vacation somewhere far away from the DEO. “It is protocol, we would have had to do this sooner or later.”

“I would have preferred later.” Vasquez huffed. She liked their bubble and would have preferred to stay in it just a little bit longer before having to see Pam.

Lucy smiled at her grumpiness. “Me too.” She reached out and took Vasquez’s hand. “But with it out of the way we don’t have to worry about the repercussions of doing this later.”

Vasquez squeezed Lucy’s hand and leaned over to kiss Lucy’s cheek. “So smart.” She smiled and pecked Lucy on the lips. “So cute.”

Lucy swatted Vasquez’s shoulder; a light blush dusted her cheeks. “Stop, let’s get these forms and then we can go get lunch while we fill them out.”

Vasquez just grinned as the elevator doors opened and they stepped onto the HR floor.

Pam looked up from her computer and smirked when she saw Lucy approach. “Who blew themselves up this time?”

Lucy smiled. “Hi, Pam, and no one this time. This visit is actually for a personal reason.” She lifted her and Vasquez’s intertwined hands.

Pam nodded and stood; making her way over to a row of filing cabinets. “I have to say this is more favorable than when I had to have the other Danvers fill out these forms with that tool of an ex.” Pam commented as she grabbed the required paperwork.

Lucy smiled and Vasquez snickered. It appeared no one truly liked the Daxam boy.

Pam handed over the papers. “Fill these out and get them back to me when you can, and I assume I don’t have to inform you of the sexual harassment seminar you two must attend?”

Lucy nodded. “We got it, thank you, Pam.” Lucy almost forgot. She placed the paper bag on the counter. “This is for you, as a thank you for putting up with me and all the paper work I have been giving you.”

Pam side-eyed the white paper bag. “From the Café on the corner of 5th and Leigh?”

Lucy nodded with a smile.

Pam took the bag. “Have a good day, Director Lane.” Pam smiled.

Vasquez did her best not to look scared, but she had never seen Pam smile, just that neutral look you could never decipher.

/\/\/\/\

Kara sat at their table as she watched James and Lyra try and teach Winn how to properly hold the pool cue and hit the cue ball. It had been going as well as one would think.

Maggie, Lucy, and Vasquez stood on the opposite end of the table and tried not to snicker at their friend, but found it very difficult to do so.

Kara smiled as she watched her friends have fun. She wished Lena could have joined them, but she got caught up in a last minute conference call with an L-corp branch on the other side of the world where it was morning. Kara also knew that Lena was hesitant to step foot in an alien bar; while she was far from being anything like her family, the Luthor name was still one that wasn’t well received in the alien community.

“How are you holding up?” J’onn asked and took the seat next to Kara.

Kara picked at the label on her beer bottle. “The pain never stops, does it?” Kara asked.

J’onn placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “No, I’m afraid not.”

“Hmm.” Kara sipped her beer and turned her focus to her friends. Watching them be happy dulled her sadness.

“But.” J’onn said. “It helps if you remember the good times.” He told her with a comforting smile.

“That just makes it worse because I know we won’t have any more with Alex.” Kara admitted.

“Being with friends and family helps, too, Kara. You have everyone here for you, don’t forget that.” J’onn said before they heard Winn yelp in fear and shock.

They snapped their heads in their direction and Kara shot her hand up, catching the cue ball that nearly hit her in the face.

Lyra and James pointed to Winn, Lucy and Vasquez were leaning against each other in support as they laughed, and Winn looked apologetically at Kara.

Maggie looked worried before her expression softened and she smiled. “Nice catch, Little Danvers.”

J’onn chuckled and patted Kara’s shoulder. “I think it’s time to show them how it’s done, don’t you?”

Kara smirked and they got up from their seats.

“Who’s gonna be my first victim?” Kara grinned.

James quirked a brow. “You play?”

Kara beamed at him. “Learned from the best.”

Winn handed James his pool cue. “My money’s on Kara.”

James looked offended. “Where’s the faith, brother?”

Lucy patted James’ shoulder. “I’m probably going to regret it, but my money’s on James.”

“Thank y-hey!” James grumbled. “Just rack the balls.”

Kara racked the balls and let James break.

James leaned over and looked up at J’onn. “Are we betting strictly money or can we bet tech?”

Maggie was intrigued at this. “Ooh! Are we? I’d love to get a hold of one of those fancy flash grenades.”

James smirked, glad to have someone on his side for this. “I was thinking more along the lines of one of those super cool alien guns.”

J’onn huffed but thought it over. “If two of you can beat Kara, then I’ll let each of you have a piece of tech of your choosing; within reason of course.”

“Even me?” Lyra asked.

J’onn nodded. “Yes.”

“You mean we can keep it and carrying it around like Alex did with that very cool alien gun that unfortunately was never recovered?” Lucy asked.

“Yes.” J’onn answered. He had faith in his girl.

All eyes went to James.

“You better start us off strong!” Lucy practically growled at him.

Kara shrugged. “Alright, but if I win you’re all buying me pizza and pot stickers whenever I want for a year.”

“How hard could it be for two of us to beat Kara?” James asked before breaking.

/\/\/\/\/\

Apparently very hard.

Kara wiped the floor with James, Vasquez, and Maggie, in that order. Lyra was the only one to beat Kara, and Lucy was only one ball ahead right now and the pressure was on. Winn was happy to sit on the sides and cheer his friends on.

“Come on, Lane! You can do this!” Maggie cheered; she really wanted her grenade, ok?

“You got this!” James shouted.

Lucy lined up her shot, took it, and the ball missed the pocket. Lucy scowled. “So close!”

J’onn grinned proudly as he patted Kara’s back. “It’s getting late.”

Kara nodded; hint received. “Got it.” In quick succession, Kara sank the remaining three stripes, called the pocket for the eight ball, and sank it.

Everyone looked at her in awe.

“Did you let me win?” Lyra asked, flummoxed.

“Of course not!” Kara protested. She did, she totally did. But she couldn’t help it, Lyra was really good, and the others looked so sad.

“Where did you learn to play so well?” Vasquez asked.

Kara smiled a bit sadly. “Alex taught me. Jeremiah kept a pool table in the study and he and Alex would play for hours some times. Alex thought it could help me with my strength and she was right. The math part of it was easy; calculating angles, and the amount of force needed, but uh, getting my muscles to listen to the math was difficult. I always ended up putting the cue ball or another ball into the wall.” Kara giggled.

“Alex and I finally installed a thicker slab of drywall and kept everything needed for a repair on hand. The workers of the local hardware store knew us by name within a month of me living with the Danvers’. Alex loved teasing me when we were out shopping, telling the workers how clumsy I was; it eventually got to the point where the workers would tell us about seminars and teach us how to repair the damages ourselves.” Kara glanced around and found all her friends smiling.

“We should start heading out.” Maggie said after she checked her watch. It was nearing midnight.

They paid their tab and headed out. J’onn was DD for Lucy, Vasquez, and Maggie. James was DD for Lyra and Winn.

“Do you need a ride home, Kara?” James asked and Kara shook her head; she jabbed her thumb in the direction of a black KTM Duke 690.

“I drove.”

James was surprised. Kara was really going that far to distance herself from Supergirl. He hadn’t seen the bike outside of Kara’s parking garage for over a year.

“What is with the Danvers sisters and having awesome bikes?” Maggie groaned.

Lucy patted her shoulder. “I know, I know. They both make it look so effortlessly hot.”

Kara blushed at that.

“Get home safe.” J’onn told her and Kara gave him a smile.

“Thanks for your faith in there.”

J’onn smiled at her, making sure she saw the pride in his eyes. “Always.”

Kara mounted her bike, started it, and took a deep breath. She had taken her bike that night so that she could give herself this moment of peace and be alone. She wasn’t going to tell her friends, but she felt guilty that they all felt they needed to look after her like she was some fragile piece of glass that would break if you so much looked at it the wrong way.

She pulled her helmet on over her head and took off into the night. She drove around National City for letting the roar of the engine drown out all the noise around her. Kara had been using her powers as minimally as possible since Alex died. She abstained from flying because she didn’t want to chance someone seeing her and giving the people false hope about Supergirl being back. Riding her bike was the closest Kara had ever gotten to flying before she took flight for the first time in twelve years that night Alex’s plane went down.

Kara thought about how Alex’s life would have panned out if Kara never came into her life, if Kara had just listened and never used her powers in the first place, or if Kara had arrived with Kal-el, or if Kal-el had taken her in instead of dropping her with the Danvers’. She had always had these thoughts, especially when she thought back on how much Alex didn’t experience because she was too busy taking care of Kara.

Kara drove past L-Corp and noticed some lights were still on. She slowed to a stop by the sidewalk and looked up. She slid her visor up and lowered her glasses.

Lena was still sat in front of her desk, hunched over and doing paperwork.

Kara parked her bike and walked into L-Corp, helmet in hand. She waved to the security guard on duty and rode the elevator up to Lena’s floor.

She stepped out of the elevator and walked towards Lena’s office; she waved to a tired looking Jess who looked relieved to see Kara.

“Oh thank god, maybe you can get her to go home.” Jess said as she waved Kara to head in to the office.

Kara stepped into the office and Lena didn’t look up.

“Jess, I told you to go home.” Lena said without taking her eyes off the papers in front of her.

“I think Jess is waiting for you to go home first.” Kara said with a smile that widened when Lena jumped in shock, her eyes widening and her hand flying to her chest. Lena smiled when she realized Kara was standing in her office.

“Kara! What are you doing here so late?” Lena asked as she shifted her papers into a neat stack. She cast a quick glance to the helmet hanging from Kara’s hand.

“I was riding around and saw the lights were still on, saw you, and I decided to come bring you home.” Kara smiled.

“Riding?” Lena quirked a brow and Kara lifted her helmet slightly.

“Yeah.”

Lena’s eyes softened and she nodded. “Alright, let me just sort these based on importance and finish signing off on some, and we can go.”

Kara nodded and made her way to the sofa. She set her helmet down and sat on the couch so she was facing Lena. Kara enjoyed watching Lena work, it reminded her of the days when Cat was around. But with Lena there was something different. Cat was a hard working woman who built was she had from the ground up. Lena was a young woman-who albeit smart-had this company thrust upon her at the tender age of twenty four.

Rao, Kara remembered the day Lena had told her she was only twenty four. She had stopped writing her notes and just stared at Lena while Lena continued on as if nothing was amiss.

But no matter the age difference, Cat and Lena were made for this. Lena made herself look the part when in the public eye and at the office, but Kara knows that Lena prefers jeans and t-shirts, would gladly trade her heels for sneakers any day.

Lena was so young but forced to grow up so fast.

Kara watched Lena with a fond smile as her thoughts began to wonder once more. She thought about other earths.

What were they like in that universe?

Was Krypton still alive?

Did Alex become a successful doctor? Get married; have kids?

Did Lena’s family give her the love and affection she deserved?

Were Maggie’s parents more accepting? Did she have a loving household full of hugs?

Did Alex and Maggie meet on those earths?

Was Jeremiah around to see Alex grow up?

Did J’onn still have his family? His wife, his daughters, his home?

Were they all happy?

Kara thought of the device in her apartment that could take her to different earths. Maybe it was time for a vacation that wasn’t forced upon her by CatCo HR who complained about Kara racking up too many sick hours and vacation hours.

But what would she do on those other earths? Would she even be able to bring herself to leave them? What if she saw Alex or saw something she didn’t like?

What if she found an earth where Astra didn’t die and she redeemed herself?

What if she found an earth where there was no death, just peace?

What if she found an Earth with a time machine? She could bring it back and make sure…

What if? What if? What if?

Kara was so caught up in her thoughts she hadn’t noticed that Lena was all packed up and ready to go.

“…Kara, Kara.” Lena waved her hand in front of Kara’s face.

Kara’s hand shot up and grasped Lena’s wrist gently. She released Lena’s wrist just as quickly as she had grabbed it. “Sorry, I was lost in thought.” Kara said before she stood up and grabbed her helmet.

Lena, while a bit perplexed at the gentleness of the show of power, found it quite interesting how Kara could have easily snapped her wrist, but at the very last second, Lena caught Kara’s expression change as she remembered where she was, and what could have been very painful ended up being the gentlest Lena has ever been touched by another person.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” Lena apologized.

Kara shook her head. “Nothing to apologize for, I should have been paying attention.” Kara followed Lena to the office door and held it open for Lena.

Lena muttered a quiet ‘Thank you’ and looked at Jess who was shutting down her computer and packing up her purse.

“Goodnight, Jess.” Lena said.

Jess smiled at her. “Goodnight, Ms. Luthor.” She gave Kara a small nod with a look of gratitude. “Ms. Danvers.”

“Goodnight, Jess.” Kara said.

Once they got to Kara’s motorcycle Lena paused; the realization dawned on her that Kara did in fact own a motorcycle and she was going to be given a ride home on said motorcycle by Kara. Kara, who Lena would have to hold onto the whole ride.

Kara opened a side storage bag and pulled an extra helmet out for Lena. Kara looked at the two helmets in her hands and offered Lena the one she was wearing earlier; it had the full face covering while the second one did not.

“Uh, you should wear this one, if you want, I mean the paparazzi have been on the prowl for a good story since…” Kara trailed off and looked anywhere but at Lena for a moment.

Lena smiled at Kara and took the offered helmet. “Thank you, for being so considerate.” Lena pulled the helmet on a shoved any unsavory thought about helmet hair out of her mind.

Kara mounted the bike and held it steady as Lena climbed on behind her.

“Hold on tight.” Kara told her before she started the bike.

Once Lena’s hold was sufficient, Kara speed off; Lena gripped Kara tighter and squealed in shock at the sudden lurch. Kara grinned and kept her focus on Lena’s thundering heartbeat against her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know very little about leases and the legal work to get them transferred and stuff like that, so please go easy :)


	4. New Gadgets and White Knights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena gives Maggie a preview of her new tech for the NCPD  
> A new player enters the game  
> James is rude and makes Kara sad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own supergirl or any of its affiliated material  
> Sorry these updates aren't as frequent, but work kicks my ass monday through friday and by saturday I am practically dead to the world

CHAPTER 4

Kara believed Maggie to be the greatest. A whole week had passed since the day she picked up her suit-two days since the two week mark of Alex’s death-and Maggie showed no signs of leaving Kara to her own devices anytime soon. Kara made it through whole days at work; Maggie stopping by to have lunch with Kara became a routine. Kara would lying if she didn’t think it was a bit suffocating.

Mon-el hadn’t been seen or heard from, even keeping his distance when at the DEO and the bar.

Maggie cooked dinner and helped Kara clean up her apartment; she even helped clean Kara’s indestructible hair out of the shower drain.

 _Seriously?!_ Maggie had thought as she tugged at a blonde strand that refused to break. _How does Kara even lose hair if it’s so indestructible?_

Maggie was currently in Kara’s kitchen making breakfast while Kara was standing in front of her full body mirror checking herself out.

Kara was in her suit, minus the boots, just staring at her reflection. It felt a bit strange being back in her suit after so long. She hadn’t put it on the day she picked it up; instead she hung it up and let it be.

Maggie stepped in and whistled. “Looking good, Little Danvers.” She grinned.

Kara smiled and looked down. “It doesn’t feel the same.” That was one way to put it. Everything about having the suit on felt wrong. She wasn’t worthy of it, she didn’t feel the least bit comfortable, and being in it just forced Kara to remember that she failed.

Kara’s thoughts wandered. Did Jeremiah know Alex was dead? Did he know CADMUS killed her? Did he have a hand in her death?

The last thought caused rage to bubble up in Kara’s chest.

Maggie stepped forward. “It’s gonna take some time to adjust.”

Kara nodded; Maybe Maggie was right and time would help, but right now, the suit felt foreign to her. “Thank you for being here, but you don’t have to put your own feelings on the back burner for me; how have you been these past two weeks?” Kara asked.

Maggie shrugged. “I get up, go about my day, sometimes I’m just running on autopilot. Come on, the food is getting cold.” Maggie answered.

Kara gave Maggie a studious look. She had heard Maggie’s heartbeat spike, but before Kara could dig into it properly she heard the coffee timer go off and practically clawed her way out of the suit and into her work clothes.

“I meant it.” Kara said as she took a seat at the island across from Maggie. “You don’t have to put your feelings aside for my sake. You’ve been here for me, let me be here for you.” Kara reached across the table and squeezed Maggie’s hand.

Maggie took a deep breath and smiled. “Honestly, Kara, being here, helping you, is helping me. It makes me feel closer to Alex.”

Kara returned Maggie’s smile. “If you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask.”

Maggie was starting to get tired of people telling her that.

They had just finished breakfast when a knock was heard from the door. Kara looked over, having not put on her glasses yet, and saw Lena on the other side of the door. She smiled as she made her way over.

Maggie chuckled to herself as she wiped her hands on a dish towel.

Kara opened the door and Lena smiled.

“Hey!” Kara beamed before she hugged Lena and ushered her inside.

“Hi.”

“Ms. Luthor.” Maggie greeted.

“Lena, please.” Lena insisted.

“Maggie.” Maggie responded.

Kara tried to hold in her squeal at the two of them being civil but failed. Both women gave Kara looks of adoration.

“Not that I am not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?” Kara asked.

“I called Winn in hopes he could get me in touch with Detective Sawyer.” Maggie gave her a look. “Uh, Maggie, and he told me she’d be here before she brought you to work, so I rushed over.”

Maggie crossed her arms. “And just what did you need from me that it couldn’t wait till I was at work?” Maggie asked.

Lena held out the rather large brief case she was holding. Maggie took it and placed it on the table. Lena held out a paper bag from Noonan’s to Kara whose eyes lit up with glee.

“I wasn’t sure if you had eaten, but I know you eat more than us humans do, so…”

Kara practically snatched the bag before she gave Lena a hug. “I love sticky buns.” Kara beamed; she pulled the container from the bag and a freshly washed fork from her dish rack.

Maggie opened the case and gasped. “Are these…?” She trailed off as she pulled out a Kevlar vest that was much lighter than the standard issue she had at work.

Lena nodded, her smile beamed with pride. “Yes! The Kevlar is made of a special material, lighter, but can also give Supergirl’s heat vision a run for its money.”

Kara frowned and shot a small burst at it.

“KARA!” Maggie dropped the vest that landed with a light thud. “You don’t do that, Little Danvers!” Maggie shouted, hand over her heart.

“What?” Kara mumbled around a mouthful of sticky bun. “She said it could withstand my heat vision.” Kara shrugged as if it were no big deal.

Maggie and Lena exchanged a glance, both felt as if they had just suffered mini heart attacks.

“Kara, I think what Maggie meant was; give us a warning before you shoot your heat vision.” Lena said softly.

Kara nodded. “Sorry.” She mumbled.

“It’s cool.” Maggie sighed as she knelt down to pick up the vest. There was a small scorch mark from where Kara’s heat vision hit it, but otherwise the vest was intact. “You were right.” Maggie commented as she looked on the inside to see it was undamaged. It wasn’t even hot, a bit warm, sure, but not enough to cause discomfort or pain when Maggie touched it.

Lena smirked. “Of course I am.” Maggie rolled her eyes at the smug look. “It should also absorb impact, you might have felt it when Kara’s heat vision hit it? Instead of flying across the room it fell to the floor.”

“This is awesome.” Maggie gaped. She put the Kevlar back in the case and lifted up a small rifle that had a wide barrel, making it look like a shot gun. “What does this do?”

Lena ducked behind the table as Maggie lifted it and looked through the scope. “It’s loaded!” Lena cried.

Kara immediately placed herself in front of Lena and Maggie quickly lowered the rifle.

“Sorry.” She said sheepishly.

Lena stepped out from behind Kara once the rifle was no longer pointed. “You’re fine, I loaded it with the purpose of showing you what it does.”

“Why not wait till you get the contract with the city and do the demonstration?” Maggie asked. Not that she wasn’t happy to get the first hands on trial, because she was, ecstatic even.

“Because I would like the cop doing the demonstration to know what she is doing.” Lena smiled.

Maggie was beaming now. “So what does it do?” Maggie asked and held the rifle out to Lena.

Lena took the rifle and pushed a button; the small tube on the underside lowered and a small sphere rolled out; the sphere was about the size of a ping pong ball. “These are expandable foam bullets that harden after they reach full expansion, which is about the size of a basketball. It will adhere to whatever surface it touches and can be quickly dissolved with water, assuming most of your criminals don’t try to swim away.” Lena loaded the sphere back into the rifle, pointed it at Kara’s hand and fired.

“Hey!” Kara tried to lift her hand as the foam expanded, but the foam stuck to her hand and the table; the table lifted slightly with each tug. The foam stretched but would not give up its grip; Kara even braced her free hand against the table and pulled, but to no avail. It solidified and Kara frowned. She was eating with that hand. “Leeennaaa…” Kara honest to Rao whined and pouted. Kara brought her free hand over and flicked the solid substance; it chipped at the force. Kara’s frown deepened as she banged her fist against the substance; it cracked but didn’t let up, and Kara was afraid she would break her table if she applied anymore force.

Maggie was amazed that the foam withstood Kara’s super strength but she couldn’t take it. “Oh my god! Give her back her hand.”

Lena giggled as she got a glass of water and poured it over the foam. It dissolved into a sand like substance. Kara grinned and shoved the last bite of her sticky bun into her mouth.

“What else you got, Luthor?” Maggie grinned.

Lena pulled out a 3”x3” cube. “This expands into a cage, its bars are made out thin wire that will shock whoever is inside if they try to escape.” Lena pulled out a standard issue glock. “You mentioned aliens impervious to bullets, so I made these bullets to expand little spikes to dig into the clothing and each bullet has a tracker in them so that even if the criminal runs you can track them.” Lena slid the magazine free and removed a bullet. Maggie noticed the little light on the side of the round and nodded.

“Do you have an estimated date for the contact signing?” Maggie asked before she checked her watch. They had to be going soon if Maggie was going to drop Kara off at work.

“Today, actually.” Lena grinned as she packed up the case.

Maggie stared at her wide eyed. “So soon?”

Lena gave Kara an apologetic look. “With no sign of Supergirl returning and people starting to believe the rumors of her dying in the explosion, the city was very enthusiastic about getting the police better equipment.” Lena explained.

“Oh.” Kara whispered and her gaze on her now empty plate.

Lena and Maggie frowned.

“I don’t mean to upset you, Kara, we all understand that you need time. No one is going to blame you for that.” Lena told her and placed a comforting hand over Kara’s own.

Kara nodded. “I know.” And she did. She remembered when J’onn had finally caught up to her in the air; physically restraining her from flying closer to the green and grey cloud sent up from the bomb. She remembered him telling her over and over that it was too dangerous and that she could die from Kryptonite exposure as he restrained her in a hug.

Maggie grabbed Kara’s glasses from the table and held them out to her. “Time for work, Little Danvers.”

Kara took her glasses and put them on. “Ready.”

/\/\/\/\

White Knight’s first appearance in National City was during the first major alien attack on National City. The three aliens were reptilian, and every time an agent managed to shoot or injure the aliens the wound would go away because of course these reptilian aliens who took on a more human appearance except for their scales, eyes, ears, and talon nails, were a regenerative species; oh and they had tails too!

These aliens were against the amnesty act and being registered and were attacking parking garages of all things, reducing them to rubble. Apparently they had a vendetta against parking garages.

Lucy stared up at the seven foot tall aliens and cursed before diving to the side to avoid getting struck by a large scaly tail. She made eye contact with Vasquez who was taking cover behind a DEO van, holding a net canon, and then jumped to her feet, running to the side, firing her gun; distracting the alien.

Vasquez jumped from behind the van, aimed and fired. The net shot out and tangled around the alien, knocking it to the ground as it stumbled around. Vasquez didn’t have a chance to lower her shoulder canon before being swatted aside by the tail of another alien; it sent her flying and she landed on the roof of a car with a sickening thud, denting the roof and cracking the windows.

“Vasquez!” Lucy shouted as the revving of an engine got closer.

Guardian appeared on scene and Lucy scowled.

“It’s about damn time!” Lucy screamed. Lucy of course gave James the strictest talking too she could muster when she found out James was Guardian, but mostly she was worried for him, and told him to be careful; but she was also one of the first people to call him out on his bullshit when he did something reckless.

“Sorry, there was traffic.” James joked and Lucy leveled him with a steely look. He said nothing else as he hopped off his motorcycle and charged into the fight.

Lucy ordered two agents to get Vasquez back to base and to medical before one of the two remaining aliens opened fire on her with his alien weapon that didn’t shoot out bullets made of alien metal or regular metal, but thorn shaped bolts of energy. Lucy dove behind a car where two other agents were taking cover and it shook with every thorn that hit it. Then the volley of thorns stopped and dust started to fall overhead.

Lucy and the two agents looked up to see that the alien was shooting the concrete ceiling of the parking garage. Larger chunks began falling and Lucy scrambled to her feet, dragging the two agents with her. She looked up and saw the large slab coming loose.

“Go!” Lucy shoved one agent forward just as the slab fell; landing between the agent and Lucy and the other agent.

“Director!” Francis, the agent next to Lucy pulled her to the ground, using his much larger body to cover her own as more debris fell over them.

“Lucy!” James yelled as he tried to knock the second alien away from him in an attempt to get to Lucy.

“James, other alien getting free!” Winn screamed through the comm in James’ ear.

The ceiling above gave out completely and the alien stopped firing as the concrete came falling down.

Francis braced himself for the weight of all the concrete, holding Lucy close to him, but it never came. Something cool and metallic curled over him as the debris fell, thudding as it bounced off a solid metal surface.

When the debris finally stopped they were buried but not dead.

“Holy shit!” Winn shouted in awe; having seen what protected Lucy and Francis.

“Winn, what’s going on?” James asked as he fended off the three aliens, other agents firing cover fire and lining up shots for their net canons.

“A knight saved Lucy and Agent Francis!” Winn shouted, still amazed at what he had just witnessed.

The knight came zooming in, thrusters-coming from the outer sides of the suit’s calves and on the back-engaged, placing itself around Lucy and Francis, bringing a large shield up over their head as the concrete slabs and boulders fell around and over them. It happened so fast Winn was replaying it slowly on a separate screen.

The knight stood up slowly, creating a hole in the pile of rubble, lifting Lucy out first at the insistence of Francis who all but shoved Lucy into the knight, shouting to get the director out safe, and then lifted Francis out.

Lucy and Francis watched as the knight pushed their shield out, moving the debris out of their way and stepping out casually.

“Are you alright?” the knight’s voice was female and distorted to a voice changer that made her voice almost robotic.

Lucy dusted herself off and narrowed her eyes at the…knight in front of her, taking in the metal that looked like it was glowing white, and the slightly scratched up shield that had saved them. “Who the hell are you?” Lucy demanded. No matter how cool this sci-fi medieval knight looked they were still interfering with official DEO business. Though there was something familiar about this suit that Lucy couldn’t place her finger on.

“That’s one way to thank the person who saved your life.” The knight chided before she turned and rushed over to help Guardian.

The knight raised a hand and a cover opened in the shape of a sphere, it glowed white before it shot out a pulse blast, sending the alien flying. DEO agents quickly swarmed it, trapping the alien in two nets.

Lucy and the rest of the agents watched as the giant suit of armor moved around fluidly as it combatted the remaining aliens. As large as it was Lucy expected the movement of the suit to be restricted, but alas, the knight moved as if it weren’t made of metal.

The knight drew her sword from the sheath at her hip; a rapier styled sword. Lucy continued to watch with a critical eye. This suit reminded her of something important but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

An explosion pulled Lucy from her musings and when she looked up she saw what remained of the alien gun smoking on the ground, the knight’s sword pointed down which told Lucy that the knight had cut it in half. What really had Lucy intrigued was the thin red glow along the edge of the sword’s blade; Lucy guessed plasma.

With the help of the knight Guardian was able to quickly disarm the last two aliens and the DEO got them contained and shipped off.

Guardian turned to the knight. “Who are you?”

“White Knight.” With a small jump White Knight activated her thrusters and shot out of the parking garage, taking to the skies.

/\/\/\/

Lena sat behind her desk, ice pack attached to her shoulder with an ace bandage, doing paper work when the door opened and Jess came in, wordlessly placing a bottle of pain killers in front of Lena with a box of salonpas patches.

Lena thanked Jess and went back to her papers expecting Jess to just leave, only to lift her head a moment later when she noticed Jess was still stood in front of her desk.

“Was there something you need, Jess?” Lena asked, brow raised expectantly.

Jess jumped. “Uh no, I uh, I just…” Jess stammered before she cleared her throat. “Just please, be careful, Ms. Luthor.” Jess gave her a small smile and left the office.

Lena stared after her, jaw dropped slightly. She watched the door shut and gave a smile of her own, silently she promised.

/\/\/\/\

Kara and Maggie were at the DEO, stood beside J’onn in the command center when James, Winn, Lucy and the agents arrived. Kara was dressed in her street clothes; cape nowhere to be seen. James almost scoffed; Kara saw they needed trouble and just stood by? He was livid, he has been keeping this city safe when Kara was just watching idly by. Who couldn’t be the hero now?

Kara rushed forward and pulled Lucy into a hug. “Thank Rao! Are you guys okay?” She pulled back and used her x-ray vision to look Lucy over.

Lucy brought her hands to rest on Kara’s outstretched arms and Kara looked up. “We’re fine, I’m fine. Promise.” She added the last part when she saw the crinkle and gave Kara a bright smile for good measure.

“I’m so glad, when Vasquez was brought in, I was so scared.” Kara dropped her shoulders, relaxed now that she had seen her friends back in one piece. She hugged Lucy once more time before she stepped back.

Lucy’s expression became worried. “Is she okay?”

J’onn nodded. “A slight concussion and minor bruising, she’ll recover just fine. She’s resting in medical.”

Lucy nodded and made her leave.

“We would have been better if Supergirl had shown up.” James grunted, undoing the top half of his armor.

“Hey!” Maggie warned, taking a step in front of Kara.

Winn quickly backed away two steps before he muttered something about scanning the feeds for anything on the knight and rushed off to his desk.

“It’s true!” James shouted; he stepped forward. “I get that you’re upset, but we need you out there. Lucy almost died tonight! The city needs Supergirl! Not some wannabe in a suit of armor like that one guy from a movie!”

“What does that make you?” Maggie stepped forward into James’ personal space. She may be a good foot shorter than James but she’d fight him. Because Alex would. “Huh? You go out there every night in a suit of armor swinging your shield around like your trying to hit piñatas! And that knight saved Lucy!”

 “This city has enough heroes!”

Maggie scoffed. “This city has one hero, and as of tonight, two vigilantes!”

Kara stood back with her head down, tears falling from her eyes silently as he shoulders shook.

“We don’t need another vigilante!” James shouted.

“We never needed the first one! What’s wrong Olsen? Jealous that someone might do a better job than you, because they have better tech?” Maggie screamed back at him.

“Hey!” Winn cried indignantly. His tech was great; but not the point right now. He quickly turned his attention to his monitor when Maggie turned her glare to him.

“I am not jealous, we don’t know who this person is, they could be evil for all we know and we need a new hero now because Supergirl refuses to put her cape on and be the hero she chose to be!” He turned his head to look at Kara’s bowed head. “You don’t get to stop being a hero just because you’re sad! We are all grieving Kara, but you are the only one refusing to do anything but grieve! What would Alex think?”

“Supergirl is dead!” Kara shouted, sending the whole room into shock. “No one knows what Alex would think because she’s not here! Supergirl died with Alex, I don’t know why you keep you looking for her! She’s not coming back!”

“Funny since I’m looking right at her!” James shouted.

“I’m Kara, not Supergirl, James! Kara Danvers is who I am, Supergirl is what I can do! But how can I do anything when I’ve lost my heart?! I may be physically indestructible, but I am emotionally destroyed!” Kara roared. “Rao forbid I actually have feelings other than hope! Well I don’t have any more hope!”

Kara couldn’t handle it anymore. She had bottled everything up and now it threatened to come out. She needed to get out. She felt the heat rushing to her eyes and she knew Jeremiah’s glasses wouldn’t be able to stop the inferno if she unleashed it. She glanced around erratically and realized there was only one way out.

Kara zoomed out-shoving James out of her way-and onto her landing pad where she leapt into the air.

Not two seconds after Kara’s departure a thunderous ‘BOOM’ reverberated off buildings; the windows of the DEO shook all around.

Everyone who was not accustomed to the sound of Supergirl breaking the sound barrier flinched before they turned their judgmental eyes towards James.

Had it been any other time the agents of the DEO would have been worried about windows.

James had his eyes fixed on the open window. He hadn’t meant to hurt Kara so badly; he just wanted to give her some tough love to get her back out there. She was getting better, they all saw it. She was smiling more, she was having lunch with Lena again, and she was leaving her apartment more often.  In his attempt to help Kara move forward he had shoved her who knows how many steps back.

Maggie shoved him. “What the hell is our problem?! She lost her sister, you asshole! And you don’t get to talk for Alex. Alex would give Kara all the time she needed to grieve, not act like a complete ass who pushes Kara before she is ready.” Maggie shoved him again and again till he stumbled, nearly falling over.

James didn’t fight back, frozen in shock. He stared out the window Kara just flew out of. “Kara, I…”

The agents in the room all glared at James; none of them had any qualms about fighting him at that point. There was one rule that went unspoken in the DEO and that was never make Kara sad. Kara who always asked about their families and offered help when they had a problem. Kara who was obviously not getting on as well as they all thought. Honestly it would be of the highest offense not to defend Kara. They knew now was not a good time though; Maggie seemed to be handling it.

Maggie shoved James once more time. “I get that you’re angry! But you do not, I repeat, DO NOT, take it out on Kara! You can’t force her to go back out there before she’s ready! Now she is out god knows where!”

James tried to step forward but Maggie shoved him back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t…I’m sorry.” He turned to leave and saw Lucy standing by the exit. “Lucy…”

Lucy shook her head and motioned for him to follow her. They stepped into the elevator to the parking garage. “She’s scared of failing.” Lucy spoke as the elevator moved.

“I know…”

Lucy cut him off. “You obviously don’t or you wouldn’t have said those things!” she shouted at him. “She failed to save Alex, she is afraid she is going to fail the city. Her confidence is gone, James! We have to be there and support her until she feels strong enough to feel worthy of putting that cape on again. Lord knows we need to be here for her because her cousin won’t.”

“That’s not fair, Metropolis is getting hit with attacks because villains believe Superman is distracted with grief in the aftermath of the death of his cousin.” James defended Clark.

“He didn’t show up to the funeral.” Lucy said slowly, making sure James heard and understood her. “I know Clark’s a great guy! I can’t wait for him and Lois to get married, but Kara is alive, he’s not distracted, he just doesn’t want to come.”

“It would have been suspicious for Clark Kent to show up at the funeral of someone he supposedly doesn’t know.” James protested.

“Stop defending him!” Lucy roared, she slapped her palm against the ‘Stop’ button, and levelled James with a look that had made grown men wet themselves in the past. “This isn’t a fight about Clark, damn it! This is about Kara, she needs all the support and love we can give her. I need you to stop defending Clark for two seconds to understand where I am coming from.” Lucy said and at James’ silence, she continued. “Thank you. There are many stories those two genius reporters could have used to be here for the funeral. I’m here, they could have said Lois was coming to support and console her little sister, they could have said they were here to support you, after the loss of our friend; but they didn’t!” Lucy took a deep breath.

How did they go from fighting about how James treated Kara to Lois and Clark? Oh right, Lucy brought up Clark and James just had to defend his best buddy. So this part was her fault, but he could have been on her side, Kara’s side, when it came to Clark, but of course, James chose Superman first, as always.

After a minute a silence, James spoke up.

“You’re right.”

Lucy looked him in the eye.

“Clark and Lois both could have made up a believable story to be here for the funeral. Kara would have loved for him to be there.”

“Thank you; for understanding.” Lucy told him; she hit the start button, and they continued their descent to the parking garage. “And you were right too; Metropolis has been getting hit lately. But that does not excuse them for not making time to even call.”

James nodded and the rest of the ride went in silence.

/\/\/\/\/\

Maggie found herself a new bar. Club, really, but…details. It was a place she could get drunk and not have to worry about the Superfriends finding her; not that she was in the least bit worried since they were all focused on locating Kara. Maggie had a plan. She would get drunk enough to numb her dreams, go home-to Alex’s apartment-and try to sleep enough to be okay the next day. She’d sleep in Alex’s bed, wearing Alex’s clothes, wrapped in Alex’s blanket, and then she’d wake up and get news on Kara before going about her day.

God she had to be some kind of masochist.

But she couldn’t break in front of Kara. Kara needed someone to be strong; to be her strength to give her the faith and courage to put the suit back on. Maggie was going to be just that for Kara. If she only knew where Kara was going and if Kara would just turn her damn phone back on so Winn can trace her.

Stupid James, and his stupid words, and stupid decisions, and making Kara so sad that she flew away to who knows where and isn’t answering her phone.

Damn it! Maggie lost Alex; she couldn’t lose Kara too. Kara was one of the only things she had left of Alex and she was going to do her best to fill the hole Alex left behind. Maggie had heard the stories of Alex being the one to calm Kara down during panic attacks when they were younger; she heard the stories of how Alex comforted Kara during thunderstorms even recently because Kara heard Krypton explode, she felt the explosion when the shockwave hit her pod. Kara related the loud boom of thunder to the sound of her planet dying and the shaky feeling reminded Kara of spinning aimlessly through space before coming to a stop in the Phantom zone.

Maggie tossed back her drink and glanced around the club. She had been hit on a total of five times already. Two were men and they had gotten shot down fast. She had almost said yes to dance with a girl that looked like Alex, but the woman noticed her badge and made some comment about cops being hot and if Maggie would use her cuffs on her, and started this role play thing and yeah, Maggie wasn’t in the mood.

Before Maggie tossed back the rest of her drink she pulled her phone out and set an alarm that reminded her to call Eliza in the morning. She and Eliza spoke on the phone regularly and even face timed if they both had the time to sit and chat.

She was so busy looking after Alex’s family, so who was looking out for her? She always gave, but never took; even when the offer of a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen came from Kara. Maybe Kara was right; Maggie casted her needs to the side in order to care for the needs of others. Why? Because it was easier than confronting her own and then she’d have to accept that she did love Alex and that Alex died never knowing because Maggie was a coward; because Maggie always lost everything she loved.

Eliza Wilke.

Her parents.

Hell, the cousins she was once so close to.

Previous girlfriends who couldn’t handle the reality of dating a cop. Maggie was not about to name them off. Naming them off meant she had to remember all the things that had her falling in love.

Maggie didn’t want to remember.

Her glass thudded lightly against the bar top when she set it down. She picked up her phone and added another alarm: _Call Auntie_. Maggie gave a satisfied nod and placed her phone back onto the bar counter. She was about to flag down a bartender when a familiar voiced caused her to freeze.

“Maggie?”

Maggie plastered what she hoped was a proper smile on her face, and turned to face Lena.

“Lena! Hey!” she almost slid from her chair from the momentum of her spin on the swivel stool; her quick grip to the bar stopped her from what would have no doubt been a horrific face plant.

Lena gave her a tight lipped smile and a calculating look. Her eyes said everything and held all the questions.

Maggie prepared herself for Lena to voice her judgement. It never came. Maggie wondered if Kara informed Lena of her impromptu trip before Kara turned her phone off.

Lena flagged down a bartender and ordered Maggie another drink; and one for herself.

“What are you doing?” Maggie asked, her words came out slurred.

Lena smiled at her for real this time. “Joining you, if that’s alright.”

Maggie hummed her response and sipped the drink the bartender placed in front of her.

Lena sipped her own drink before Jess appeared beside her. Jess whispered something to Lena and Lena nodded.

“Thank you, Jess, tell the others I apologize for leaving so soon?”

Jess nodded with a smile. “Of course, Lena.”

Maggie watched Jess go with narrowed eyes. “You go out for drinks with your employees?” Maggie asked.

Lena nodded. “Jess was the first candidate who didn’t bring up my family, worked for my family prior to certain events, or try to impress me with a padded resume when she came in for an interview. Some nights I take her and a few other employees out for drinks.” Lena explained; she wasn’t going to tell Maggie that Jess had insisted on going out for drinks to celebrate a job well done on her first appearance as White Knight. She flagged to bartender down. “Add whatever tab Detective Sawyer has accumulated to my own, please, my assistant will close it out.”

The bartender nodded and did as she was asked.

Maggie frowned. “Ya didn’t have to do that.” Maggie protested before downing her scotch.

Lena waved her off, finished the last of her scotch, and stood. “I wanted to. Get your coat on. I’m taking you home.”

Maggie scowled. “I’m fine here, thanks for the drink.”

Lena narrowed her eyes. “You almost fell out of your chair a minute ago, come on, Maggie; it’s time to go home.”

Maggie shook her head. “Not yet, S’not enough.”

Lena furrowed her brow. “Enough? For what?”

Maggie had every intention to not answer Lena’s question but her mouth betrayed her. “Dreams. Not enough for the dreams to stay away.”

Lena was confused for a moment but realization dawned on her. “You dream about Alex.”

Maggie nodded, her mouth continued to betray her as it decided to continue to overshare. “Yep. My dreams like to torture me, get me to believe she’s still here, only to rip her away when morning comes.”

Lena felt her heart constrict at the admission. She grabbed Maggie’s coat and helped Maggie off the stool. “Let’s get you home, you can have a drink in the car.”

Maggie conceded and slid off the stool, stumbling slightly when her feet hit the ground; but Lena didn’t let her fall; Lena held her upright and helped her walk out of the club.

Lena was a good; Maggie decided.

/\/\/\/\/

Lena knocked on the door one more time hoping for a response. Her arm was getting tired and Lena had started to feel the strain of holding Maggie upright. She should have taken her driver up on his offer to carry Maggie up the stairs.

“Kara?” She called and hoped she’d receive an answer.

“’S’not ‘ome.” Maggie half mumble half slurred.

Lena quirked a brow. That information would have been very helpful before Lena told her driver where to go, and _before_ , Lena told him he could go.

“What do you mean she’s not here?” Lena asked; worried and curious. So Kara did not call Lena. Oops.

“James said mean things bout Alex and she flew off.” Maggie yawned and motioned haphazardly to the door knob. “Try the knob.”

Lena pursed her lips; so that was Kara who left half of national city's windows, including her own, shaking under the force of a sonic boom; Lena thought before she adjusted her grip on Maggie and reached for the door knob. She turned and it opened.

“Huh.”

“Bad habit, both of them.” Maggie grumbled as she stepped out of Lena’s hold and stumbled into the apartment with a sudden burst of energy.

Lena hurried in behind her and locked the door. She was going to have a talk with Kara about the purpose of having multiple locks on her door and why she should utilize them. The thought was quickly pushed aside as Lena returned her attention to Maggie who was trying and failing to get out of her jacket.

“Oh, ok.” Lena rushed over and helped Maggie out of her jacket and to the couch. Once Maggie was sat down safely on the couch, Lena helped Maggie out of her shoes.

Lena did her best to get Maggie into Kara’s bed and tucked in before she went to the kitchen to get Maggie water. She grabbed her phone from her purse and dialed Kara.

Lena got Kara's voicemail.

Lena tried a few more times before she gave up and returned to Kara's bedroom to give Maggie the glass of water.

Once she was satisfied that Maggie was taken care of for the night, Lena walked over to the couch and practically collapsed on it when she sat down. Lena called Kara one more time and sighed heavily; her shoulders dropped with disappointment.

“Kara, when you get this please call me back. Nothing’s wrong…” she glanced toward Maggie. “I mean nothing too drastic that you’d have to race back, but just, please, let me know you’re somewhere safe.”

Lena hung up the phone and kicked off her heels. Karta wouldn't mind if Lena borrowed some pajamas. She walked over to Kara's drawers and pulled out a pair of flannel pajama bottoms.

Lena changed, made sure the front door was locked, and left the window unlocked just in case Kara came back while they were sleeping.

Lena situated herself on the couch and pulled the blanket around her; she cast one last look out the window and sighed. She made a mental note to have words with James the next time she saw the interim CEO. She wondered what could have been said for Kara to fly off with no word of where she was going or when she’d be back. She wondered what possessed him to even say mean things to Kara. Kara was their friend, their source of faith, hope, and love. Lena wondered if she was being biased due to how she felt about Kara.

Fuck it. Lena was being biased. When no one believed her to be innocent despite all that she did to put her mother in prison, Kara believed her; when everyone thought she was behind the venture engine failure Kara was the one to go at the case with no judgement. God, it killed her when Kara came to her office and asked about Lena’s relationship with her mother, because Kara was not subtle at all, she had thought she had lost her only friend because Kara had been cajoled by those around her into believing Lena was nothing more than her name.

Lena never saw Kara coming and before Lena knew it, Kara had wormed her way in past all of Lena’s defenses and into her heart. But what shocked Lena most was that she didn’t mind having Kara there. It scared her to no end that Kara had been added to the list of people who could hurt her.

Kara believed in her.

Lena held onto the fact like a life line and would continue to hold onto it until the day she died. For the first time in a long time-her whole life if she’s honest-someone believed Lena to be more than her name; Kara believed Lena to be better; Kara believed in Lena to be no one other than herself.

“Come home safe, Kara.”

Lena curled up on the couch and pulled the blanket up under her chin; taking in the warm scent of safety that lingered around her and on the blanket; a scent that could only be described as Kara.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love James, I do, he thought he was helpful, but just because he thought it was helpful doesnt mean it was,  
> Next chapter we see Clark and Kara has some words with him  
> As always please review and you can also find me at tumblr: cchasing-the-sunn


	5. Family Matters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Clark have a confrontation  
> Clark and Eliza talk  
> What Earth are we on now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any and all mistakes, they are all my own.  
> I hope you enjoy

CHAPTER 5

Kara landed in the fortress with a whoosh of air; her head down, tears long gone, but stained on her cheeks, her hair a mess, and her shoulders shook with each shaky breath she took. She was sobbing, let’s be honest, she was out of tears, but her sobs continued.

James was right; what would Alex think about her wasting her days and nights holed up in her apartment grieving? Would Alex think it a shame on her memory? James obviously did, with the way he called her out.

Kara took a step toward a corner, she wanted to curl up and be left alone. She wanted time to think without someone to butt in and give their two cents or to try and cheer her up.

Before she flopped into a corner, Kara looked up at the ice sculptures of her Uncle Jor and Aunt Lara; she looked at the ice sculpture of Krypton they held up. She wondered what her family would say if they saw her now. Kara Zor-El of the noble house of El, broken and defeated. Would they look at her with shame? Would they understand? Would they berate her and tell her to move on?

Kara thought of her Aunt Astra. The thought only brought fresh tears to her eyes. She and Alex never truly spoke about it. Kara wiped her nose with her sleeve and removed her glasses to wipe her eyes.

“Kara?”

Kara gasped as she snapped her head up and through her tears she saw Kal-El approach; his cape swished behind him and snow crunched under foot.

He knelt in front of her, his brow furrowed as he handed her a handkerchief. “Did you fly here?”

Kara took the handkerchief and looked down at her jeans and cardigan combo. She nodded mutely as she dried her eyes, her chest still heaving with each sob that escaped. How else was she supposed to get to the fortress? By boat?

“Where’s your suit? You shouldn’t be flying without it.” Clark began to lecture but stopped when a loud sob escaped Kara and fresh tears rolled down her face; because of course that would be his first concern after finding Kara curled up in a corner of the fortress crying. He frowned. “What’s wrong?”

Oh, now he cared enough to ask. Where was his caring when Alex died? Where was he the day of the funeral? Where was he the days between Alex’s death and her funeral? Where’s her suit? More like where the hell were you when we lost family?

The rage welled up in her, but she wanted to know. She wanted to know what was so important that he couldn’t have flown in for a few measly hours for Alex’s funeral. What was so important that he couldn’t be there for Kara when her sister died?

Kal-El had entrusted Kara to the Danvers family, asked that they care for her and raise her like their own. He left her with a human family who never experienced a Kryptonian growing into her powers, when he himself had already gone through it; he practically dropped her into their laps. Alex was right; he abandoned her.

“Where were you?” Kara asked, her voice hoarse from crying.

Clark raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean? I’ve been in Metropolis.” He answered.

Kara sniffled and cleared her throat; her eyes narrowed as she bore into him. “Alex’s funeral was almost two weeks ago, _where. Were. You_?” her tone was sharp, her eyes cutting, as she demanded an answer.

Where was he when she was growing up? Where was he when she couldn’t sleep because everything was too loud? Where was he when she needed someone to understand how she felt surrounded by those who were different? Where was he when even the slightest touch from her foster family set her off? Where was he when she had nightmares about their home planet exploding? Where was he during thunder storms that brought back the horror of witnessing her whole planet, her culture, her friends, and family die?

Kal-El wasn’t there when she couldn’t sleep because everything was too loud; it was Alex who talked to her to distract her. He wasn’t there when she was afraid of being touched; Alex was, Alex held Kara’s hand, giving her lightest of touches until she could handle it.

When she felt like the freak at school it was Alex who defended her against bullies, Alex who made Kara feel as if she belonged. Alex held her when she had nightmares about Krypton; Alex hugged her and sang her to sleep on the nights there were thunder storms, when thunder cracked across the sky and the rumble reminded her of when he pod careened into the phantom zone. It was Alex who sang her to sleep on those nights, Alex who made her feel normal, Alex who never let Kara feel out of place or like she was dangerous.

Alex taught her how to live on earth, Alex taught Kara to adapt, Alex taught her how to surf, Alex taught her how to play pool, Alex taught her how to drive and ride motorcycles, Alex was the one who taught her how to control her strength because damn it, there were times when Kara really needed a hug and Kara was too fucking scared because she didn’t want to hurt Alex.

It was Alex who did everything Kal-El should have done. Kal-El who experienced everything she had gone through but he left her alone; abandoned her.

Clark’s eyes softened as he gave her a sympathetic look. She almost scowled; she didn’t want his sympathy, she wanted answers.

“Kara, Clark Kent doesn’t know the Danvers family.” He told her softly as if speaking to a child who didn’t understand while he placed his hand on her shoulder, giving her what he thought was a comforting squeeze.

Kara glared and shoved his hand away. “She was my sister!” She hissed. “James was there, Lucy was there! Are you telling me that Clark Kent and Lois Lane couldn’t make an appearance for their friend or sister during a time of mourning?!” Kara roared; getting to her feet so she towered over him; her glasses forgotten on the floor.

“That’s not it.” Clark stood and averted his eyes from Kara’s glare.

“Then what was it?” Kara asked, practically screaming. “I needed my friends and family, someone I could hug tight without the fear of hurting them! I needed you and you weren’t there! You were never there!”

Clark reached a hand out. “Kara, I wasn’t ready to look after a kid, and how would that look if I brought home a kid? Clark Kent doesn’t have any other family other than the Kents.”

Kara slapped his hand away with enough force that Clark nearly stumbled at the unexpected force. “You didn’t even try!”

“Kara, you need to understand that I was just starting my career, I had just gotten comfortable in my role as Superman, and I had no idea how to care for a child.” Clark defended.

“I was ready to take on that and more when I was thirteen!” Kara seethed. “My parents put me in that pod to look after you so you wouldn’t be alone on earth, had my pod not gotten knocked off course I would have done everything and anything to keep you safe and give you the best life possible!” Kara yelled and stepped into Clark’s personal space which caused him to take a few steps back at the sudden proximity; and the sharp look in Kara’s eyes.

“But you didn’t have to, and I for one am relieved that you didn’t have to.” Clark told her.

“Where were you when I was growing up and needed someone who understood?” Kara asked. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose in an attempt to quell her anger.

“It would have raised suspicion if Clark Kent showed up frequently at a sea side town he had no connection to.” Clark argued.

Kara growled, honest to Rao growled. “You never showed up for Earth birthday, you never showed up for any holiday, you knew I had trouble with my powers and you never showed up! You left me in the hands of people who were strangers to me!” her eyes were tinted red, a sure sign of her heat vision rising.

Clark lifted his hands up in a calming gesture. “Kara, I knew you would be safe there. Jeremiah helped me understand my powers and I knew he would help you and he did.” Clarke tried to placate her.

“He helped me understand! But not how to control them!” Her heat vision slipped through and nailed Clark in the chest, right in their family crest. “I needed someone who could give me tips on how to control them, but no! You were too busy with work to care about your family!”

Clark slammed into an ice wall, not all prepared for the quick and powerful blast, leaving a rather sizable dent behind. “I understand you are upset, but you shouldn’t lash out.” He tried once more to calm her. “We can talk this out; that is our way.”

Our way? Kara could have laughed at how stupid he sounded. He and she were not the same. They shared the same blood, but Clark had no idea of their ways, he knew what came from text books and research journals, but Kara, Kara lived their ways, he adapted to them when he was an adult.

Kara tackled him and they both crashed through the ice wall. They landed roughly, Kara rolled away from Clark and jumped to her feet.

“Our way?” Kara stalked over to Clark. “You knew nothing of our ways until you found this place and Kelex; you learned our ways from me! You learned Kryptonian from a book! You learned about our sun and how our planet perished from research journals! You left me alone with strangers! If your parents knew that they would have been disappointed in you!”

Clark froze in his attempt to himself to his hands and knees at Kara’s words. Was that really how his parents would have felt? He had done so much to learn about where he came from, who he came from in order to be the man his parents would have been proud of. He shook the thoughts away and reminded himself that Kara was grieving, that she didn’t mean what she was saying. Clark was about to get up only to be kicked aside by Kara. He skidded across the ground before he pushed himself up and charged at Kara. If she was not going to use her words then neither was he.

Clark grabbed Kara around the waist and slammed her to the floor. He pulled back only to receive a face full of heat vision. Kara’s assault did not stop there; she flew at Clark and punched him into the air, flew up and kicked him into the ice floor of the fortress; a crater around his fallen body.

Kara was out of words but full of rage.

Clark and Kara continued to trade blows, smashed through walls, and punched craters into the ground.

Kara released an unforgiving wave of heat vision that sent Clark crashing to the ground. She screamed as she continued her assault of heat vision.

Clark grabbed his cape to cover himself and had not noticed that he had grabbed something else. He swung his cape forward and something slipped from its folds.

A crack sounded and Kara let up her heat vision, having seen what flew from Clark’s cape.

Kara lowered herself to the floor and picked up the fallen object. Clark watched her in silence.

Kara inspected the cracked lens of her glasses. Tears pooled in her eyes as she clutched the frames gently in her hands. “I’m sorry.” She whispered.

Clark slowly got up as he watch Kara fall to her knees and clutch the glasses to her chest.

“I’m so sorry.” Kara sobbed as her tears fell. “I’m sorry.”

Kara continued on like a mantra and Clark approached her cautiously.

He placed his hand on her shoulder softly; at least softly to them; and she flinched under the pressure, a small whimper of pain tore through her. He ripped his hand away and realized Kara blew out her powers.

“I’m sorry.” Kara heaved.

“It’s okay.” Clark told her softly.

“I just want my family back.” Kara sniffled.

Clark gathered her softly in his arms. “I’m right here.”

Kara shook her head and tried to push him away but he wouldn’t budge. “No, I want my mom.” Kara said.

“Then let me take you to the DEO.” Clark offered.

Kara shook her head again. “Not her; Eliza.”

Clark looked down at her with sad eyes. “Ok, we’ll go to Midvale.” He cradled her softly and made sure his grip was secured around her before he took off slowly.

/\/\/\/\/\

Clark landed on the back porch of the Danvers' house softly and adjusted his grip on a sleeping Kara. She had fallen asleep immediately after he had taken to the sky.

He saw a light on and used his x-ray vision to see Eliza making tea in the kitchen on the other side of the door. He used the hand under Kara’s knees to knock lightly on the double doors. He watched a startled Eliza jump.

“Eliza, its Kal-El.”

Eliza’s face appeared when she moved the curtain aside. Her eyes found Kara and she gasped, her hands worked quickly to open the door and ushered him in.

“I found her at the fortress.”

Eliza led them up the stairs and to Kara and Alex’s old bedroom. She pushed the door open and motioned for Clark to put her on the bed closest to the window. “J’onn called earlier and told me what happened, he was hoping to find her here.” Eliza said as she turned down the sheets and Clark placed Kara down.

Kara stirred and cracked open her eyes just a bit. “Mom?”

Eliza smiled at her. “Yeah, sweetie, it’s Eliza.”

Kara smiled softly and reached out for Eliza. “Mom.” She closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

Eliza practically beamed. “Get some rest, sweetie.” Eliza pressed a kiss to Kara’s forehead and tucked her in. She cast a quick glance at Alex’s side of the room with a somber expression. It was as if a line was drawn in the middle with how different the two halves of the room were; the different color schemes, the different band posters; the room showed the personalities of her two daughters well.

Clark nodded. “He called me too, that’s why I went to the fortress.” He frowned as Eliza tucked Kara in. “Kara said somethings before she started beating the crap out of me.”

Eliza snapped her head up. It was not like Kara to lash out at her family. “Like what?”

“She said I abandoned her. That I was never around.” He looked at Eliza. “Do you think that?”

Eliza pursed her lips and motioned him to follow her. Once the door to Kara’s room was shut Eliza spoke. “I think you wanted what was best for Kara and believed that we were it. Don’t get me wrong, we were happy to accept Kara into the family, but you could have visited more.” Clark opened his mouth to protest but Eliza held up a hand. “I don’t want to hear your reasons, Clark, I want you to listen. Raising Kara was difficult, I will admit, she had to adapt to a new planet whereas you grew up here, she was thirteen, you were hardly over six months; Kara could have used something familiar, someone familiar.”

Clark frowned. “But it’s like you said, someone familiar. The last time Kara saw me I was an infant!”

Eliza pressed her index finger to her lips and headed down the hall. “Yes, but you are her family, just having you nearby with your family crest was familiar enough for her on a brand new planet she knew nothing about. Honestly, I can understand why she would feel as if she were abandoned.” Eliza told him as they entered the kitchen and Eliza retrieved her mug of tea. She lifted said mug as an offer but Clark lifted a hand and shook his head.

“I just wanted her to live her own life and not feel obligated to join me as a super.” Clark sighed as they sat at the dining table. Clark shook his head. “How are you holding up, Eliza?”

Eliza quirked a brow and sipped her tea cautiously. “I’m holding up as well as I can; but don’t you go changing the subject. Alex always accused you of abandoning Kara because you just didn’t want to take responsibility for your family.” Clark gaped. “But never when Kara was home or within hearing distance.” Eliza mollified.

Clark sighed heavily but said nothing.

Eliza blew on her tea; still too hot for consumption. “I understand that you were busy trying to balance being Clark Kent and Superman back then, trying to find the balance, but you could have visited more often, could have helped when Kara’s powers became too much. But I do not regret taking Kara in, Clark, I never will.”

“I should have done more, should have been there more, and I’m going to try, I promise.” Clark said.

Eliza could see it in his eyes that he was honest; but it was not her he should be making promises to. “You should tell Kara this.” She stood from the table, mug of tea in hand. “You are welcome to stay the night, I’m sure there is something you can wear.”

Clark nodded. “Thank you, Eliza.”

/\/\/\/\/

The door to the room opened slowly, without a sound, and the man stepped in. He approached the hospital bed slowly, casting a quick glance at the sleeping short haired brunette woman that was hooked up to many machines, and focused his attention on the raven haired girl hunched over asleep in a chair next to the bed; her head rested on her folded arms atop the bed, beside the brunette’s hip.

Unbeknownst to him the girl was no longer asleep, the door opening had woken her. She tightened her grip on the small knife tucked in her jacket sleeve. Whoever walked into the room was a threat, no one could move so quietly around here; the ones who could were home asleep.

The man placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder and she lunged.

The girl pulled her knife from her sleeve, grabbed the man’s hand, pulled so her shoulder dug into his chest, and jumped out of the chair, slamming the man into the wall, her knife at his throat. She glared at him, teeth bared and ready to slit his throat if she had to.

Face to face, she saw this man was of no threat to her or the woman in bed.

“Ra’s?”

“كنت أسرع مما كنت تذكر، واحدة صغيرة.” (You are faster than I remember, small one.) It wasn’t said with malice nor the intent to insult. Ra’s-dare she say it-sounded impressed; a feat not easily accomplished.

“Sorry.” She stepped away from Ra’s and sheathed her knife back into her sleeve.

“No apologies needed, Sin.” Ra’s waved her off and adjusted his robe that covered his hospital gown. “It brings me pride to know my daughter trained someone as skilled as you.”

Her cheeks heated up at the praise; Ra’s al Ghul was not one to hand out compliments. “You trained me as well.” She told him.

Ra’s smiled and nodded. “So I did.” He nodded at the woman in the bed. “She has not yet woken?”

Sin shook her head, the action caused her bangs to fall into her face, and she brought a hand up to push them back. “Not yet, but her vitals are good, she’s breathing on her own now, and I’m concerned about the trauma to her head and spine, but I think the nano bots are working well; keeping the scarring down.” Sin rattled off while she righted the chair that got knocked over when she lunged at Ra’s.

“Well, those nano bots are doing wonders for me.” Ra’s assured her with a few pats to his abdomen.

Sin narrowed her eyes. “Yes, and you should be resting.” She chided. “You can’t take back your rightful place on Nanda Parbat if you keep tearing your stitches.” Sin crossed her arms and quirked a brow.

Ra’s huffed indignantly. He was the Leader of the League of Assassins, he did not take orders from a little girl who chose the name ‘Small one’ when she finished her training. Even if she looked so much like Nyssa with the glare she was giving him. “You look like Nyssa when you do that.”

“Good.” Sin quipped. “She’s the only one who can get you to listen.”

They continued their stare down for a moment before Ra’s conceded. Only because he knew that Sin was not above sedating him while he slept in order to force him to rest while his wounds healed. She was the one who pulled him from the Lazarus pit before the waters could finish the job; she was however, the reason he even got to the pit at all.

“Very well.” He headed for the door. “Maybe you should be the heir to the heir?” Ra’s teased.

Sin scoffed. “Isn’t that what got us in this mess? You changing your heirs?”

Ra’s chuckled. “So it would seem.” He jutted his chin out at the woman. “Is Felicity confident about getting her home?”

Sin glanced at the bed. “She’s still working her way through all of Cisco’s codes and firewalls, and the device is much harder to repair than I first thought.”

Ra’s expression softened in a way that was reserved for Nyssa. “I’ve seen you put plane engines back together, Sin, you can fix this device.” With that he left the room.

Sin heaved a sigh and sat back down on the chair. This device would be the death of her.

The device in question: Cisco’s dimensional door.

The damned thing was practically destroyed in Sin’s opinion, but it wasn’t irreparable, it would just take a lot more time.

Sin reached into her pocket and pulled the woman’s badge out. She read the credentials and looked at the photo.

Felicity had run the name and agency through the system multiple times and came up with nothing. They weren’t expecting to find anything since Sin did get thrown through a dimensional portal to who knows where and came back with bloody and beaten unknown woman in her arms; both covered in dirt and soot, and their clothes singed here and there.

Sin flipped the leather badge holder closed. She placed her hand on the woman’s knee and squeezed lightly, not wanting to aggravate the sprained joint.

“I’ll be back to check on you in the morning.” Sin said. “Goodnight, Alex.”

/\/\/\/\/

Maggie adjusted her sunglasses as she stepped off the Luthor’s private jet; because that’s what it was, not L-Corp’s, but the Luthor’s; well, Lena’s. After she had woken up that morning and told Lena about the nights events Lena almost rushed over to CatCo to give James a piece of her mind, but Eliza called, told them Kara was with her and Lena calmed down rather quickly to Maggie’s amusement.

Maggie told Eliza she would try to come down and Eliza protested but Lena revealed that she had taken it upon herself to e-mail’s Maggie’s captain with the request of two days off and he gave Maggie four. Maggie would be having a talk with Lena about invasion of privacy and how Lena got into Maggie’s _locked_ phone; Maggie was, however, very impressed at how well Lena managed to mimic her through words.

So here Maggie was, stepping off a jet and climbing into a car, on her way to the Danvers’ beach side home; all expenses paid via Lena Luthor, who was probably giving James Olsen a verbal beat down and drag of the century. What Maggie would give to see that happen. Maybe she could intimidate Winn into getting her footage or something.

Lena wanted to come, but she was working overtime most nights to get the last of the new gear for the NCPD done so that mayor and police chief could give a date for the gala they wanted to throw in honor of it.

Maggie thanked the driver as he held the door open, took her bag, and closed the door behind her. Maggie flinched at the thud of the trunk closing. Her headache was mild at most, but still it hurt.

Eliza had told her that Kara blew out her powers in a fight with Superman that left her physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted and would most likely sleep through the day; but that did not deter Maggie from arriving any later.

Maggie watched the town pass by as they drove. She looked at diners and shop, and wondered what shops and diners Alex frequented; did Kara stun the townspeople with her appetite? Maggie saw the hardware store and smiled as she remembered the story Kara told them at the bar.

 _Wow, this was a small town._ Maggie thought. She had always believed Midvale to be a bit bigger than this.

Maggie knocked on the front door upon her arrival.

The front door opened and Maggie recoiled back, her eyebrows shot to her hair line as she took in the man in front of her. Her mind screamed Clark Kent, but as she further took him in, she saw it. He and Kara had the same eyes. Her second reaction was to freak out, because holy shit, Superman was standing in front of her, then she thought about where he was when Kara was mourning, surely Kara’s cousin would have made an appearance during Kara’s time of loss.

Maggie pressed her lips together in an impressed yet still surprised look. “Hmm, you learn something new every day.”

Clark furrowed his brow. “Pardon?”

Maggie chuckled and shook her head. “Nice to meet you, Superman.”

Clark sputtered and attempted to deny it but a laugh from behind him cut him off.

“Alex always said you were a smart one.” Eliza said, mirth in her eyes and a smile on her face. “Come in.”

Eliza ushered Maggie in while Clark continued to eye her suspiciously.

“Would you like some tea? Coffee?” Eliza offered.

Maggie gave her a look of appreciation before shaking her head. “Thank you, but I’d actually like to check on Kara first; she gave us all quite the scare.”

“Of course; she’s upstairs, second door on your left.” Eliza told her with a smile.

Maggie nodded her thanks and headed up the stairs.

Maggie walked down the hall and looked at the many different photos on the walls and a smile crept across her lips at all the photos of Alex and Kara with Eliza and Jeremiah.

Kara’s door wasn’t hard to miss; it was almost comical how the door had a line of caution tape going down the middle of it and both sides were decorated so differently. One side of the door had a ‘Please Knock’ sign in the middle of the half and the other had a ‘Keep Out!’ sign on it.

_“When we were younger our messes would get everywhere until we finally got tired of being blamed for each other’s mess, so we split the room and made sure to keep our sides clean.” Alex said with a giggle; Maggie’s head in Alex’s lap and Alex’s hand combed through Maggie’s hair. “It wasn’t until we were older and that keeping our sides clean became a habit that mom told us it was all part of her plan and she admitted to spreading our mess in hopes we’d keep the room clean.”_

Maggie smiled at the memory. She opened the door slowly and glanced around; the room was just like the door, except there was no caution tape or anything of the sort cutting the room in half. Maggie took in all the different posters; laughing quietly at Kara’s N’sync and Backstreet Boys posters. She saw an easel in the corner, the bookshelf on Kara’s side of the room was packed full of history and literature books, and the desk was neatly organized. Alex’s side of the room had a few science posters, a small chemistry set on the desk, her bookshelf held many science texts and research journals.

Maggie chuckled. Alex was a nerd even then.

Even the colors were complete opposites. Where Kara had her bright pastels, Alex had darker colors like navy, maroon, black and gray.

 

A whimper snapped Maggie out of her musings and she turned her head to look at Kara.

Kara shifted in her sleep and let out a small whimper.

Maggie frowned as she took Kara in. She found it foreign to see Kara come off as small considering how much taller she was compared to Maggie herself; Kara always had this sort solidity to her. Maggie saw Kara as unbreakable, but god, was she proven so wrong the day they lost Alex. Now Maggie sees Kara-curled up in a ball so close to the edge she might fall-the way Alex probably always saw her; small, scared, and breakable.

Kara let out a small cry and Maggie placed her bag down on the floor at the foot of the bed. She kneeled down next to Kara’s head and pushed some stray hairs from Kara’s face. She frowned as she ran her thumb over Kara’s crinkled brow.

_Maggie turned on her bar stool, her gaze leaving the now sleeping Kara on Alex’s bed, and looked at Alex who was pulling two beers from the fridge. They were halfway through a pizza and movie date when Kara had come flying in looking worse for wear; her eyes red and puffy. Maggie had politely stepped out onto the balcony while Alex took care of whatever sister emergency her presence was needed for. Outside the rainfall slowed to that of a drizzle; the thunder had long since stopped._

_“When Kara had nightmares as a kid she never liked being alone, because if she wasn’t dreaming about Krypton’s demise she was dreaming about being alone; about being back in the Phantom Zone.” Alex explained as she popped the cap off her beer and moved to do the same on another._

_Now that Maggie knew, and Kara knew Maggie knew, Kara had no qualms about Alex telling Maggie about her history; as long as it wasn’t too personal._

_Maggie furrowed her brow. “The Phantom Zone?” Maggie asked._

_Alex slid a beer over to Maggie. “The Phantom Zone was a place in space where no time passed, it just stopped, there no warmth and so far away from any sun it was so dark. Kara’s pod was knocked off course by the explosion of her planet and ended up stuck for twenty four years before she landed here on Earth.” Alex explained as they made their way over to the couch._

_“So…” Maggie drawled. “What you’re saying is that Kara is actually older than us? Older than Superman?”_

_Alex smiled as they sat on either end of the couch, turned so they were facing each other; Maggie eyes bright and curious, caused Alex’s smiled to widen._

_“Mhm.” Alex hummed before she took a sip of her beer. “She used to change his diapers.”_

_Maggie stored that information away for later. “So these nightmares, any of them get really bad?”_

_Alex nodded. “Almost always, I think I spent more time in Kara’s bed than in my own Kara’s first two years on earth.” At Maggie’s questioning look Alex continued. “She slept better with someone beside her, made her feel as if she wasn’t alone. Thunder storms were the worse because the booming thunder would remind her of her planet’s explosion.”_

_They fell asleep before their movie finished and woke up tucked into Alex’s bed; a note stuck to Alex’s cellphone from Kara the only trace of her the next morning._

_‘Sorry for barging in on your date, and taking Alex’s bed, but thank you! :)”_

“You’re not alone, Kara.” Maggie whispered.

Kara’s expression relaxed and Maggie retracted her hand as she stood.

Kara’s brow crinkled at the loss of contact.

Maggie frowned and looked toward the door before she made up her mind. Eliza wouldn’t mind if she took a nap. Maggie kicked off her boots, walked around to the other side of the bed where there was more room and laid down on her side, facing Kara’s back.

As if sensing her presence, Kara rolled over and latched onto Maggie, Kara’s ear pressed to Maggie’s chest.

_“Kara learned to pick up mine and mom’s heartbeats to help ground her when everything got too loud. I wouldn’t be surprised if she still recognized dad’s.”_

Maggie really wished she could shut off Alex’s voice in her head. She shifted so she laid on her back, arm wrapped around Kara’s shoulders, and Kara moved with her.

Before she let the waves of sleep pull her under, Maggie pulled out her phone and texted Lena an update that she demanded she get as soon as Maggie saw Kara.

_‘With Kara, she’s sleeping.’_

_‘Good_

_Thank you_

_Let her know I’m glad she’s safe’_

_‘Will do.’_ Maggie placed her phone on the bed next to her and closed her eyes; the sound of the ocean outside and Kara’s warmth lulling her to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there we have it :)  
> Which Earth is our beloved agent on and just what is going on with this other earth?


	6. How can we not talk about family when family’s all that we got

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maggie spends time in Midvale, Lena works on bettering her suit, Kara works through some things, and Eliza is a pancake making master (also world's best mom)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know it's been awhile, and I apologize, I don't know why this chapter was so hard to write, and there are places I'm not completely pleased with, so I hope you all like the update :)

When Maggie woke up she was alone and the sun was casting an orange glow through the wide open window; signaling the sunset, a calm and cool breeze hollowed the curtains slightly, and kept the room cool; goosebumps raised across her arms.

Maggie rolled out of bed and walked over to the open window with the intention of closing it; but a sight caused her to stop.

Maggie hadn’t noticed how close the Danvers house was to the ocean, but looking out now, she realized it was almost the Danvers' backyard.

She focused on the small figure in the water, her eyes squinted, and yep, that was Kara seated on a surf board, bobbing up and down to the rhythm of the waves.

The bedroom door was still shut leading Maggie to believe that Kara had left through the open window.

Maggie pulled her boots on, grabbed her phone, and headed downstairs to find the back porch door open and heard voiced outside. She stepped outside to see Clark and Eliza sat on the porch swing.

Clark looked up and Eliza followed his action and smile at Maggie.

“Did you have a nice nap?” Eliza asked with a smile.

Maggie nodded. “I did, thank you, I didn’t mean to sleep so long though.”

Eliza waved her off. “No apology needed.” Eliza looked out onto the water. “She’s been out there for almost two hours now.”

Clark had his gaze locked on Kara, a crinkle in his brow and a frustrated look on his face. He didn’t know Kara could surf so well; Kara had mentioned Alex teaching her during one of their rare phone calls when Kara was younger, but nothing after that.

There was so much he had to learn.

Maggie adjusted the sleeves of her Henley. “I’m gonna go talk to her.”

“She snuck out of the house.” Eliza told her.  “I wouldn’t have known if Clark hadn't heard her. That usually means she wants to be alone.”

Maggie huffed. “Well she’s not.”

Kara lowered herself to her board in a sitting position and wiped water off her face. She heard clapping and turned her attention to the shore. She focused her eyesight and smiled when she saw Maggie clapping, a huge smile on her face.

A smile shy smile grace Kara’s face as she paddled back towards the shore.

Maggie held out the towel Kara had left rolled up next to her clothes, only glancing at Kara’s abs for a second. Because who wouldn’t? They were impressive and Maggie was kind of envious towards them. Kara’s abs came naturally due to her being Kryptonian, humans like Maggie had to work hard to get abs like those.

“Thanks.” Kara sticks her board in the sand and takes the towel, wiping her face and wrapping it around her. “When did you get here?” Kara asked.

“This morning, Lena all but shoved me onto her jet once she learned you were here.” Maggie told her with an amused smile. “She would have come too, but she had to put the final touches to the new equipment for the police department and a board meeting tomorrow morning.”

Kara’s heart warmed at the thought of Lena and a small smile slid across her face. “I’m sorry I just flew out of there like that.”

Maggie waved her off. “I’m just glad you are ok.” Maggie nodded toward the water. “You’re pretty good at that.”

Kara smiled sadly. “Alex taught me, she used to surf competitively before going off to college.” Kara tapped the board with her heel lightly. “This is her old board; you ever surf?”

Maggie shook her head. “Not many places to in Nebraska.” She knew Alex surfed; Alex herself had told her; but Maggie didn’t know she surfed competitively.

Kara smiled softly. “If you want I could teach you a little bit tomorrow.” Kara offered.

Maggie looked apprehensive. Sure she was a decent swimmer, but that was in pools.

“I promise not to let you drown.” Kara assured her.

Maggie shrugged. “Sure, I’d love to learn.”

Kara tilted her head to the side and smiled. “Dinner’s ready.”

Maggie furrowed her brow. “How?” Kara tapped her ear. “Right.” Maggie smiled as Kara gathered her things and they started the trek up the beach to the house.

/\/\/\/\/\

The door to the workshop opened and Nyssa Al Ghul stepped in looking for Sin; Nyssa hadn’t seen Sin at breakfast and Sin never passed up bacon. Nyssa sniffed the air and yep, that was bacon, so where was Sin?

Nyssa walked further in to the room and placed the plate of food down on Sin’s desk.

“Food?”

Nyssa started at Sin’s head popping out from under the desk that she almost stabbed Sin with the fork in her hand.

Sin grabbed a piece of bacon from the plate and popped it in her mouth; not caring or noticing that she was almost stabbed with a fork. Sin eyed the fork. “You gonna hand that over or stab me with it? Either way, I’m gonna use it.”

Nyssa rolled her eyes and handed the fork over. She had no doubt that Sin would use the fork even if it were dirtied with her own blood.

“Have you been here all night?” Nyssa asked, looking over at the platform and its two arches that were now standing upright as opposed to being in pieces on the other side of the room after Talia’s assault over two weeks ago.

Nyssa didn’t understand the logistics of the whole thing but she understood how it worked. The arches would spin at high speeds creating enough friction to create a tear in space resulting in a portal to another dimension. That was all Nyssa needed to know.

“Yep.” Sin answered, her mouth full of bacon.

“My father told me about what happened last night.” Nyssa said.

Sin swallowed her food. “I already apologized to him.” Sin told her.

Nyssa smiled, pride evident in her features. “I was proud to hear it.”

Sin smiled shyly.

An alarm going off caught their attention and Sin snatched a tablet off the desk. She tapped out a few things and the alarm stopped.

“What’s that?” Nyssa asked.

“My alarm in case I fell asleep.” Sin answered, going back to her food.

Nyssa smiled and shook her head. “And just how long was that alarm set for before the food woke you?” Nyssa asked as she crossed her arms and quirked a brow.

Sin paused; Nyssa was giving her the mom look. “Uh.” Sin flipped the cover of her tablet closed. “Two hours.”

Nyssa chuckled. “Okay, so half an hour.” She reached out and mussed Sin’s hair.

“Hey!” Sin swatted Nyssa’s hand away. No one touched her hair; only Sara and that was only so she could trim it. “Don’t touch the hair!”

“Get some sleep, small one, you are no use to anyone, especially yourself, if you aren’t well rested.” Nyssa told her.

“Coming from Ms. I-only-need-fifteen-minutes-of-sleep-to-survive-the-week?” Sin fired back with a teasing smirk.

Nyssa rolled her eyes. “I have never experienced a normal life like you had.” She patted Sin’s shoulder. “Besides, someone has to look after you.”

“Thanks, _mom_.” Sin rolled her eyes affectionately.

Nyssa smiled softly; secretly she liked when Sin called her mom. Sin was as close to her own child as Nyssa was going to get after all; having kids within the league wasn’t common.

“Eat and sleep.” Nyssa instructed before leaving the workshop.

Nyssa shut the door behind her and went in search of Sara and Felicity.

Years ago when Nyssa found Sin caring for a sick and starving Sara on a deserted island, she saw the potential in Sin; especially when Sin managed to sneak up on one of her men by jumping from a tree, knocking him out with a large branch, and getting close to another to hold a knife to his throat. Sin had put up a fight; she fought wildly, taking every hit with ease. What had surprised Nyssa most about their first meeting was how well Sin threw her knife; granted it was aimed for Nyssa’s head.

Nyssa’s men were ready to kill Sin after they subdued her but Nyssa stopped them; she realized that one only fought like Sin had if they were protecting something; or someone. That was when Nyssa found Sara. She had taken both to her ship and nursed Sara back to health while teaching Sin hand to hand combat.

Ra’s had taken to Sin due to her fierce loyalty and stubbornness. Ra’s had turned Sara away from the league but extended the offer to stay to Sin.

Talia hadn’t trusted either of the two newcomers and she made that known every chance she got. Even going so far as to frame Sin and Sara for an assassination attempt on Ra’s’ life after Sara beat Talia in a duel. The only thing that foiled Talia was the fact that the poison that was planted on Sin wasn’t labeled correctly; Sin labeled the poisons and venoms with colorfully creative names such as: homophobic parents, homicidal maniac, crazy mother-in-law, ex-girlfriend, Al Ghul, and Lance-alot, along with many more. All lined up in order of lethality. Sin coded her poisons so only she would know which was which and because the looks on peoples’ faces when they read them was hilarious.

As his daughter, Ra’s showed her mercy by not calling for her death, but to Talia she would have preferred death over what Ra’s had done.

Talia would have preferred to die as the heir to the demon than to be outcast and stripped of her title. She left the league humiliated and pissed off.

After being gone over two years no one thought Talia would strike with an army of followers; they took Nanda Parbat first, and before Talia could burn Ra’s body Sin and Cisco jumped out of a portal, and took Ra’s to the Lazarus pit.

Talia promised her revenge, and two weeks ago, she attacked with a small army. She and her army sabotaged a lot of their equipment, the dimensional door and the particle accelerator. They were all moved safely out of range by Wally and Barry, but the particle accelerator and the dimensional door reacted to one another and portals opened all around. One portal snatched Oliver, another grabbed Iris, a separate portal opened underneath Julian, and Sin went flying through another.

Felicity was almost zipped away but Nyssa caught her before Felicity could get sucked in. Cisco worked quickly to close the ones their friends hadn’t gone through.

Barry went after Iris, Wally chased after Sin, and Cisco went after Julian and Oliver. Wally was the only one to return before the portals shut. It had been two weeks and the boys had yet to return with Oliver, Julian, and Iris; they were all worried and relying on Sin to fix the door so they could also use it to go searching. Talia was also an issue; she had escaped when the portals opened and started sucking things and people in.

Nyssa stepped into the main lab of STAR labs and found Sara leaning against the back of Felicity’s chair, both watching the news coverage on the monitors in front of them. The headlines were generally the same thing: ‘Where is the Flash?’ ‘Where is the Green Arrow?’ ‘Vibe Missing.’

And yeah, that last one could have been worded better.

Sara looked up when she heard Nyssa and smiled. Nyssa returned the smile and Felicity looked up with a small wave; it took her some time, but now Felicity could pick up on Sara, Nyssa, and Sin’s silent entrances; a feat not even Oliver had accomplished.

“How’s Sin?” Sara asked.

“Working.” Nyssa answered.

“Has she slept?” Felicity asked, not taking her eyes off the screens as she typed away.

“No.”

Felicity and Sara both pulled a face of displeasure.

Nyssa chuckled. “My thoughts exactly.” She leaned over and pressed a kiss to Sara’s cheek and then dipped down to press a kiss to Felicity’s head. “How are you both this morning?”

Felicity smiled. “The usual; there hasn’t been much activity amongst the league, but Thea and Wally are checking out known hideouts as we speak.”

Sara nodded. “I checked in with my dad and he says there hasn’t been much going on in Star City; Laurel and Diggle are keeping things tame.”

Felicity tapped Sara’s arm to let her know she was going to stand and Sara backed up. Felicity rolled her chair back and stood.

“I’ll be back. I’m gonna check in on our patients downstairs and then check on Sin.” Felicity told them with a sweet smile that told them Felicity would handle it and Sin would be in bed soon.

Sara and Nyssa watched her with smiles on their faces.

Their patients were fine and Sin was tucked into an actual bed.

/\/\/\/\/\

“You promised you wouldn’t laugh.” Maggie pouted as she wiped water from her face with one hand and her other was clutched to her board securely.

Kara covered her mouth to hide her smile but her squinted eyes gave her away. “I’m sorry, and I promised not to let you drown; I never promised not to laugh.”

Maggie narrowed her eyes at Kara but her smile told Kara she wasn’t that upset. Maggie was just glad Kara was laughing and smiling, it had been a while and Maggie kind of missed it.

Maggie heaved herself back onto the board. “Alright, one more time.”

Kara explained to basics to her again and caught the next wave in demonstration.

Kara paddled back up to Maggie. “Alex would be able to explain this much better than me.”

Maggie smiled at her. “You’re doing great, Kara; I just might not be good at this.” She laughed softly. “I grew up around farms, not the water.”

Kara smiled. “What was that like?” Kara asked. “Being on a farm? I mean, Kal-El told me about it, and when I’d visit he’d show me how to do some things, but I only went to Kansas three times.”

Maggie furrowed her brow. So the visits were rare. “Living on a farm wasn’t that bad, the early mornings sucked, sometimes I’d walk out of the chicken coop covered in feathers, I liked tending to our horses the most; they were great listeners.” Maggie smiled sadly. She missed some things about Nebraska.

“I’m sorry.” Kara apologized.

“For what?” Maggie asked.

“Making you remember.”

Maggie gave Kara a half smile. “Not everything about Nebraska was terrible, there are some happy memories.”

Kara nodded. “I get it, but sometimes it’s hard to remember all the good when there is so much bad tainting it.”

Maggie reached out and squeezed Kara’s bi-cep-and holy shit, no one should have that solid of an arm. She understood, she remembered Alex telling her about how Kara idolized her parents only for that image to be ruined by new discoveries: Astra, Medusa, not doing their best to save Krypton.

“You can’t let the bad memories ruin everything, hold onto the happy times, those are the ones that matter.” Maggie told her.

Kara gave her a grateful look. “Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

Kara looked out at the ocean and pointed. “Ready to go again?”

Maggie gave a determined smirk. “Bring it on.”

/\/\/\/\/\

Kara was munching on some toast when Clark walked tentatively into the kitchen and grabbed a bagel. She avoided eye contact with him as he moved. Honestly she was surprised he was still here, she thought he would have gone back to Metropolis after he got her safely here. She knew they needed to talk, but she wanted him to bring it up. She said some things that were hurtful, and some not entirely true, but she wanted him to bring it up.

Eliza was out at the store buying groceries since Kara and Clark practically emptied her kitchen, and she refused to get pizza knowing that both live off the stuff daily; well, not in her house.

Maggie was still in the shower washing all the sea water and sand off her. She did really well for her first lesson and only got a small bruise on her forehead.

Kara finished her toast as Clark dug through the fridge for some cream cheese to put on his bagel. She was ready to walk back upstairs when a hand around her wrist stopped her. She froze at the sudden touch and Clark released her.

“I’m sorry.” He said.

Kara kept her back to him as she hung her head. “I should be the one saying that.”

Clark shook his head. “No, I should. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for the funeral. I’m sorry I wasn’t very present during your first years here, and I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like I abandoned you.” Clark told her, his voice shaky and tears glazed with unshed tears.

Kara clenched her eyes shut. “It would have been suspicious if Superman was seen across the country so frequently.” Kara said softly.

“No, no excuses, I was always a flight away, you are my family and I should have been there.” He reached out tentatively and placed a hand on Kara’s shoulder. “El Mayarah. I should have been there for the funeral, I should have been there for many things, Kara, and I want to be here now; if you’ll let me.”

Kara clenched one hand into a fist, and with her other she reached up and placed her hand over the one Clark had on her shoulder. “I understand that you wanted me to have a family here on Earth, I just didn’t understand why that family couldn’t be me and you, and then later, Lois. I hated it here; in the beginning. Alex would avoid me, she never said it, but I knew there were some days where she wished I had never come to live with them. Eliza and Jeremiah were great, they never pushed me into anything, they were patient, but everything was so different. I learned English in a day and it was so frustrating, I just wanted something familiar; hearing your textbook Kryptonese was painful, but still familiar enough for me to find comfort.”

Clark squeezed her shoulder lightly. “Kara…”

“Then I’d see you on the news, people would talk about Superman’s great save or epic battle, and I’d be happy because I was so proud, because my little cousin grew up to be so good, and all I wanted was to tell people that, but I couldn’t. Alex could only take so much. I know you didn’t abandon me, you wanted me to have a good life here on Earth with a family. Alex became the only person who made me feel as if I belonged here, I had just lost my family, my planet, and sure we didn’t get along in the beginning, but Alex, she was my best friend, my protector, my big sister. When I lost her, I felt alone again.”

Clark slowly pulled Kara to him until she was pressed to his chest and she let him.

“I’m sorry. I promise to try and be around more.”

Kara nodded. She wasn’t going to take his promise seriously until he proved it. Alex promised she would never leave Kara, and yet…Alex was the one to teach her the true meaning of actions speak louder than words.

“About what I said about your parents.” Kara cleared her throat. “They’d be proud of you, of you have become and what you have accomplished.”

Clark tightened his grip. “Thank you.”

It wasn’t fixed, but it was progress.

The front door opened and Eliza stumbled through trying to balance arms full of groceries, her purse, and keys.

“I had the most amusing time at the store. The checkout boy asked if I was throwing a party but the manager just laughed and asked if you were visiting Kara…oh.” She stopped when she saw the cousins. “I’m sorry for interrupting.”

Kara smiled and shook her head. “No, we were just finishing up. Let me help.” Kara zipped over and relieved Eliza of all the groceries.

Clark cleared his throat. “Are there more in the car?”

Eliza nodded and Clark headed outside.

Kara returned and wrapped Eliza in a tight hug.

Eliza was taken off guard for a moment before she smiled and returned the hug. “Is everything alright?”

Kara nodded against Eliza’s shoulder. “I love you, mom.”

Tears pricked at Eliza’s eyes as she tightened her grip on Kara. “I love you, too.”

“Thank you, for being my mom.”

Eliza sniffled. “Always, sweetie.”

/\/\/\/\

“No, no, no!”

Sara quirked a brow in amusement as she walked into the workshop that evening, a plate of food in one hand, and a can of soda in the other. Then she smelt smoke and was mildly alarmed.

There was a small hiss and then a loud pop.

“Son of an ever loving whore of Satan!”

Sara hastily placed the plate and soda down and sprinted toward the dimensional door. She stood in the middle of the platform, spotting a fallen pair of needle nose pliers, and looked up to see Sin hanging upside down in a rig, shaking her hand back and forth while blowing on it.

“Are you okay?!” Sara shouted.

Sin cradled her now burnt hand to her chest. “Yeah, just a small explosion. Very minuscule.”

“Let me see.” Sara sighed exasperatingly as she pinched the bridge of her nose; she knew Sin always downplayed her injuries, it was one of the cons of Sin spending most of her adolescent years on Nanda Parbat.

“It’s fine.”

Sara took a deep breath. “Sin.” She called in a stern voice.

“I’m fine.”

“Down, now.”

Sin rolled her eyes but tapped a few buttons on the belt around her waist, activating the rig she attached to the ceiling; lowering herself to the floor. She swung herself upright before her feet touched the floor.

“It’s just a minor burn.” Sin explained offhandedly. “I crossed a wrong wire.”

Sara took Sin’s injured hand and clicked her tongue. “That is not a minor burn.” Sara scolded as she inspected the red and bleeding flesh of Sin’s hand. There was a long cut going down the inside of Sin’s index finger, and another on her middle finger, there was a small cut on the pad of Sin’s thumb, and her palm already looked as if it were blistering.

“It’s a small cut, Sara, nothing major, slap some nano-bots to it and it’ll be fine.” Sin said as if it weren’t a big deal.

That didn’t sit well with Sara.

Sara glared as she gripped Sin’s wrist in a tight grip and tugged her out of the workshop.

“Hey!” Sin protested as she stumbled but said nothing else as Sara dragged her down to medical.

Caitlin had just stepped out of Ra’s’ room when Sara pulled a silent and compliant Sin through the doors.

“What happened?” Caitlin asked as Sara motioned for Sin to sit on a cot. Sin took a deep breath and hopped onto the cot.

“Nothing major.” Sin answered.

“She cut and burned her hand.” Sara said.

Caitlin made her way over and pulled on a pair of nitrile gloves. “I know that you want to fix the dimensional door so you can get Agent Danvers home, but she hasn’t shown any signs of waking up yet, Sin.” She inspected and prodded the wounded area; Sin never once flinched or showed any signs of pain.

Sin shrugged. “At least it will be done by then.”

Caitlin clicked her tongue as she pulled a glove off, her hand emitting a cloud of icy fog. She placed a cold hand over Sin’s and Sin released a sigh of relief as the burning sensation in her hand went away.

“You know the nanobots are supposed to be used in dire situations, but I’ll make an exception just this once.” Caitlin said as she grabbed a syringe and Sin scowled at it. Caitlin giggled. “I know, you don’t like needles, but suck it up.”

Sara grunted and Sin looked at her.

Caitlin used it as a distraction as she inserted the needle into Sin’s palm and injected the nanobots. Sin flinched at the pinch of needle pricking skin and tensed until Caitlin removed the needle.

“I have also heard you aren’t eating and sleeping.” Caitlin started as she opened a sterile wipe and cleaned up Sin’s hand.

Sin heaved a sigh as she watched Caitlin clean her wounds; her hand was now numb, so she couldn’t feel the sting of the alcohol. “I have to get this done, okay? I have to do something, I can’t leave STAR labs because if I do Talia will do everything in her power to kill me, I can’t go play vigilante for the same reason, I can’t even go for a run, I need to do something before I go stir crazy in this place.” Sin said as she hopped off the bed. “So, if you’ll excuse me.”

Sara and Caitlin watched her go.

Sin didn’t return to the workshop, she went to Alex’s room and locked the door behind her. She pulled a chair up to Alex’s bedside and dropped into it. She lifted her hand to see the swelling had gone down and the cuts were slowly closing up.

“Wish the nanobots would work just as fast for you.” Sin said. “It’d be really cool if you woke up, you know, it’s been over two weeks, the others are starting to believe you won’t wake up at all, but I don’t believe that.” Sin pulled Alex’s badge out of the pocket of her leather jacket and flipped it open. She reached behind the photo ID and pulled out a family photo of a younger Alex stood with her parents and who Sin assumed was Alex’s sister in front on their home. She had discovered it Alex’s first day here when Sin was going through her things. Side note: the alien gun was awesome and Sin was going to ask Alex where she could get one.

“I believe you’re a fighter, you have people worth fighting for. So I know you’ll wake up and we’ll get you home.” Sin placed the photo back and flipped the badge holder shut again. “I’ll probably forget when you wake up, so I’ll say it now; I’m sorry I dragged you from your world, I’m sorry that I took you from your loved ones, but I’m not sorry that I saved you. When I lost my dad on Lian Yu, I made a promise to myself that I would do everything in my power to try and save those I could.” Sin huffed out a dry laugh. “Sounds stupid right?”

The only response Sin got was the beeping of the heart monitor; the only thing indicating Alex was alive.

“Of course it sounds stupid! You can’t save everyone and you can only drive yourself mad with guilt if you try.” Sin shook her head. “Maybe I am already mad, I mean, I’m talking to a comatose lady I know absolutely nothing about.”

Alex’s chest rose with every breath she took. Caitlin removed the ventilator Alex’s fourth day with them; the nanobots having repaired Alex’s lungs so she could breathe on her own.

“I’m going crazy in here, but Talia has a personal vendetta against Nyssa, Sara, and myself, so we can’t exactly leave without someone trying to take our heads. Honestly, I’d blame Ra’s if I could, but Talia did this, she got her title stripped from her because she was too ambitious and impatient. She wanted the league so badly she was willing to kill her own father and sister, and whoever posed a threat to her inheritance to get it.” Sin reached into the breast pocket of her jacket and pulled out a worn photo; the last photo of her and her parents before her mom passed.

Sin laughed humorlessly and tucked the photo away. “You don’t need to hear my sob story, you just need to rest and get better.” Sin kicked her feet up onto the bed and slid down her chair just slightly and closed her eyes.

Sin was asleep in seconds.

/\/\/\/\/\

Lena smiled at the photo Maggie had sent her; Kara was eating chocolate pecan pie straight from a tin and her cheeks were puffed out, fork half way between the tin and Kara’s mouth. Maggie had sent her pictures and videos periodically throughout the day.

Some were funny, others cute, and some were just outright distracting.

Kara Danvers in a two piece bikini, distracting.

Kara Danvers surfing, even more distracting.

Lena didn’t know how the second one was more distracting but it was and it caused her to accidentally set off the thrusters in the legs of her suit and nearly slammed herself into a wall.

Whenever Maggie sent her another message Lena made sure she wasn’t doing something potentially life threatening, or foundation damaging, before opening the message.

Lena placed her phone down and went back to the metal arm in front of her. She had to work on its durability. The bruises she sustained from the latest alien were nasty, and it was heating up in National City, she couldn’t wear blazers all the time.

Maybe some padding on the inside, or a shock absorbing element; a more advanced element than what she used in the new Kevlar vests she engineered for the NCPD.

Speaking of, the gala was finally given a date, Lena just hoped Kara would be up to going.

The gala was this weekend; the mayor and police commissioner both thought that it would be best to have it announced at the last minute due to the higher crime rate and alien attacks since Supergirl has…taken sabbatical.

Guardian did his best to keep up but he was more of the night shift hero. J’onn would intervene as Martian Manhunter if the situation called for it.

The door to her private work shop opened and Jess stepped in with a bag of take out and a bottle of water.

Jess greeted her with a smile. “Lunch is here, Ms. Luthor.”

“Thank you, Jess.” Lena screwed the cover back on to the inner arm and spun a small dial in the middle that brought the two cover pieces to lower and shut.

Jess placed the takeout bag near the edge of the work bench away from the equipment and looked over the blue prints in front of Lena. “I know I can’t talk you out of this, but are you sure this is a good idea?” Jess asked, picking up a small Philips screwdriver and handing it to Lena who was holding a small screw and glancing around the work bench.

Lena gave her a thankful smile as she took the screwdriver and nodded. “We-the city in general-have gotten so used to having a hero save the day. We all thought Supergirl was invincible, a god among mortals, that we forget that every living thing-even all powerful aliens-have weaknesses. Sometimes, we have to be our own hero.”

Jess gave Lena a smile. “As inspiring as that was, it didn’t answer my question: are you sure about this?”

Lena screwed the screw in place and nodded. “My family has done so much evil, I want to be better, so if it means taking one of Lex’s most dangerous of weapons and modifying it for good to help make our city a safer place, then so be it.” Lena said as she fitted the metal arm around her own. “Now, if you could be so kind to shoot me with this, it’d be appreciated.” Lena held out a hand gun and Jess looked at it with wide eyes.

“Wha…how...why…excuse me, why do you need me to shoot you?” Jess asked taking a step back. Jess had many other questions, like: Where did Lena get a gun? When did Lena get a gun? And how did this become her life?

Lena held the gun out by the barrel and sighed. “I’m testing the bulletproof capabilities and trying to find the best material for shock absorption.” Lena explained nonchalant while Jess continued to stare at her flabbergasted.

She was not going to shoot at her boss for whatever reason!

“What if I miss?” Jess asked as she hesitantly, at a snail’s pace, reached for the gun.

Lena smiled. “Would it make you feel better if I had the chest and abdominal piece on?”

“Immensely.” Jess answered.

“Very well.” Lena turned walked to the platform that housed the rest of her suit. Hooks, poles and metal wires all suspended the suit at the perfect height for Lena to fit herself into it before all the mechanisms connected and locked together.

Lena was working on a way to make the suit less bulky as it messed with her agility, but also durable enough that it wouldn’t require layers and layers of material like Lex’s war suit that was lost when Metallo’s heart exploded.

Lena hooked the suit together over her torso and chest, having already modified them and was working on the extremities.

“Wouldn’t it be better if the suit just opened in the front or back for you to just step into it instead of having it piece together like that? Faster even?” Jess asked.

Lena pursed her lips. “It would be, but first I would like to have all the materials squared away.” Lena locked the chest plate in place and faced Jess. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Jess raised the gun, aimed, and counted. “One, two! Three!” She shouted at the same time she pulled the trigger; blinking as the shot rang out.

Lena looked down to where the bullet hit her chest and smiled. “Well, shock absorption is greatly improved.” Lena said proudly as she pulled the bullet from her abdomen. She inspected the spot the bullet hit and was happy to see it hadn’t damaged the metal plating at all.

Jess stared at her mouth agape. “You didn’t feel that at all?” Jess asked.

Lena shook her head. “It felt like someone poked me lightly.”

“This is also an improved version of what you are giving the NCPD aren’t you?” Jess asked as she placed the gun on the work bench.

Lena nodded as she released the chest and torso pieces. “Can’t be giving away all my best toys now.” Lena joked as she sat down to eat her lunch.

Jess smiled. “I guess not.”

/\/\/\/\

Maggie was almost about to tell Kara to slow down when Kara stopped and looked at the sky with a smile.

“I saw birds for the first time here.”

Maggie furrowed her brow. “There were no birds on Krypton?” Maggie asked before she took a deep breath. They had been walking for almost an hour.

“No, the closest thing we had to birds were H’Raka, she was one of the few winged creatures on Krypton, but she resembled a dragon more than a bird.” Kara explained.

“Dragons?” Maggie asked.

Kara grinned. “They exist.”

Maggie made a face and Kara walked further up the beach. Maggie can blame no one but herself. She had insisted that Kara take her to all the places Kara enjoyed as a kid and spent time with Alex. Maggie enjoyed learning about Kara’s childhood and hearing about Krypton, but gosh, she should have insisted thy drive around town and not walk.

“And this is the spot I made the decision to hide my powers and truly try to live as normal a life as possible.” Kara pointed.

For the past hour and a half Kara had been showing Maggie around Midvale. While it wasn’t small town Nebraska, it was small for California.

Maggie looked at the spot and tilted her head. “What happened?”

Kara looked down and fiddled with her glasses. “There was an accident, a mom and her baby were trapped in their car, it caught on fire and I saved them.” Kara looked over the area and she could see the car ablaze, could see little her race across the beach to help, she saw little her pull the mom and child from the car just as it got hotter and hotter. Kara remembered the day as if it were some kind of out of body experience; she turned when Alex called out, listened to little her shout at Alex, warning her to get out of the way; the car exploded and Alex got hurt.

“So why’d you hide? I mean, other than obvious reasons?” Maggie asked.

Kara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Alex got hurt; because of me.”

Maggie reached up and squeezed Kara’s shoulder. “But you saved that mother and child.”

Kara smiled softly. “Yeah, but I hurt Alex in the process. She had been doing everything to help me fit in and keep my secret, and I repaid that kindness by injuring her.”

Maggie wrapped an arm around Kara. “You didn’t hurt her, Kara, the exploding car did. But that’s Alex, she’s always putting herself between you and danger.”

Kara scoffed. “I wish she wouldn’t have, then she probably would have been a surgeon or something, not a DEO agent running towards the danger; she’d be here.”

Maggie smiled. “Yeah, but when have you ever known her to shy away from danger?”

Kara let out a watery laugh. “No, never.”

“Then there you go.” Maggie squeezed Kara’s shoulder. “Now, where to next?”

Kara threw an arm over Maggie’s shoulder and Maggie’s arm slipped to rest around Kara’s waist.

“The Bowling Alley and Arcade, they have the best fries.” Kara said as she led Maggie in the direction of the Bowling Alley.

/\/\/\/\

As she was lying bed that night-Kara tucked safely into her own bed and Maggie into Alex’s-Maggie weighed the decision of telling Kara about her dreams, and the real reason Lena intervened and got her to take a few days off work. Surprisingly enough Maggie hadn’t dreamt about Alex since she arrived in Midvale. She dreamt of Kara soaring through the sky with a smile on her face; she dreamt of Lena and Kara having the happily ever after that was ripped from Maggie and Alex.

Yeah, Maggie saw the looks, you’d have to be completely oblivious not to see them. Or in the case of the others, spend more than five minutes in the same room as Kara and Lena.

Maggie rolled onto her side and watched Kara sleep. Kara had gone through so much already, she had so much on her plate, and Maggie didn’t want to bother her more.

Kara twitched and Maggie shifted so she was resting on her elbow. Kara rolled over so she was facing Maggie. Kara’s mouth was moving but no words were coming out, and as hard as Maggie tried she couldn’t read Kara’s lips.

“Zha!”

Kryptonese then.

Maggie climbed out of bed and shuffled over to Kara’s bed.

“’Lex, comin’!”

Maggie flinched. Her mind was made up. Kara didn’t have the choice of alcohol to silence her dreams. Maggie reached out and poked at Kara’s shoulder experimentally.

“Kara?”

Maggie pulled her hand back and waited. Kara jerked in her sleep and Maggie shook Kara’s shoulder. Kara’s eyes snapped open and she literally flew off the bed. Kara floated a foot off the bed before lowering herself back to her mattress. She looked around frantically, eyes wide in a panic, and her chest heaving with every breath; her eyes landed on Maggie and she took a stuttered breath.

“I’m sorry.”

Maggie sat down beside her. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

Kara covered her face with her hands. “I woke you.”

Maggie gave her a soft smile as she reached out but stopped and brought her hand to rest in her lap; unsure if touch would be well received after a nightmare. “I wasn’t asleep.”

Kara saw the action and leaned into Maggie; Maggie’s smile widened as she wrapped an arm around Kara’s shoulders. Kara dipped her head a little lower and closed her eyes; the steady thump of Maggie’s heart calmed her.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Maggie spoke.

“Do you want to talk about it, sweetie?”

Kara shook her head. “No.”

“Are you sure?” Maggie asked, she bit her lip before continuing. “You called out for Alex.”

Kara sniffled and sobbed; the action shook both Kara and Maggie. “I am never fast enough to save her and even when I do save her, I wake up and she’s gone.”

Maggie took a deep breath and set her shoulders as best as she could with Kara resting her head on them. “I know the feeling. I get those dreams to; the ones where she’s here and we are all happy, then I wake up and as soon as reality sets in I feel that crushing pain of loss all over again.”

Kara sniffled. “How do you deal with them?”

Maggie took a deep breath, braced herself, and answered. “With whiskey.” Maggie can feel Kara’s frown against her shoulder.

“How does that help?”

Maggie tried to smile, but it looked pained. “It doesn’t, it just makes the dreams go away and leaves me with minor hangovers the next morning.”

Kara scowled. “That’s not healthy.” Kara gasped and pulled away.

Maggie looked alarmed. “What is it?”

Kara wiped her tears away with her sleeve and shook her head. “I’m the problem.”

Maggie recoiled and furrowed her brow. “Little Danvers, you are far from the problem.”

Kara shook her head vehemently. “No, you are so busy focusing on me that you haven’t been taking care of yourself properly; Maggie, I don’t always need you to hold me up, you gotta let me try and walk on my own so you can look after you! Alex would-“ Kara stopped, remembering James’ words. “Oh my god! Alex would be…” Kara stopped, unable to continue, but also because Maggie placed her hand over Kara’s mouth and pulled her into a tight hug.

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” Maggie growled into Kara’s shoulder, her eyes clenched shut as she tried to force her tears away. “Alex would be proud of you no matter what! Everyone heals at their own pace, Kara, and I’m healing too.”

“How?” Kara sniffled as tears fell down her cheeks. “You’re keep looking after me, when do you look out for you?”

Maggie chuckled. “When I can, I’m not alone, and neither are you. You should call Lena and ask her to tell you all about how she all but carried me into her jet the other day.” Maggie tightened her grip. “I know drinking to get rid of my dreams is a terrible way to cope, but during the day, I have a great support system. I have you, Lena, and even Winn who likes to message me every time I get too close to a dangerous neighborhood, or sends Lyra if I don’t respond to him in ten minutes. What helps me the most, Little Danvers, is being there for you; seeing you at the end of the day, just knowing you are safe, makes my gloomy and gray days so much brighter.”

“Thank you.” Kara whispered.

“Always.” Maggie said before she settled them back down.

It was after Maggie pulled the blanket up over their shoulders that she remembered.

“You should really call Lena, she’s really worried about you.”

“After pancakes.” Kara murmured.

In the hallway, Eliza smiled.

/\/\/\/\

Eliza flipped a pancake before she turned her attention back to the small TV she had on the kitchen counter, playing news coverage on National City. White Knight was the focus, the story was covering an alien attack on the National City Planetarium.

“This new vigilante, no one knows who it could possibly be?” Eliza asked.

Maggie shook her head and pulled the comics section of the newspaper out, handing them to Kara who took them without looking up from the food she was inhaling.

(Eliza was a pancake making master, Maggie was sure of it; because she had never witnessed someone flip ten pancakes in less than ten seconds.)

“Their tech is high grade, I’ll have to ask Lena if she knows anyone…” Maggie trailed off and clenched the paper tight in her hands in realization. She took in the sleek almost white metal, the green LED lights that ran in a slight ‘V’ across the face to indicate the eyes…

(She was going to have words with one Lena Luthor when she got home.)

Kara was too distracted by her food to pay attention to Maggie, but Eliza saw the realization wash over Maggie. Eliza gave Maggie a knowing smile and turned back to the griddle to flip pancakes.

The news anchor appeared on screen and the headline under her was titled ‘NCPD TO HONOR LENA LUTHOR AT GALA.’

“In a more interesting development, the NCPD and Mayor want to honor Lena Luthor this Saturday during a gala that is reported to be announcing a partnership between L Corp and the NCPD.”

“What?!”

Maggie knew that if Kara weren’t an alien, she would have choked on the food she was inhaling for breakfast

“Slow down, Kara.” Eliza chided.

Kara swallowed her mouthful of food and took a sip of water. “The gala is so soon?” Kara asked.

“The mayor and police chief think that due to the lateness of the announcement it gives criminals and even CADMUS less time to plan an attack. It helps that most of those in attendance are cops and will be armed that night.” Maggie told her as Eliza placed a plate of waffles in front of her.  “Thank you, Dr. Danvers.”

Eliza narrowed her eyes. “I thought I told you to call me Eliza.”

Maggie took a sheepish bite out of her waffles and grinned at Eliza.

“That’s only two days away!” Kara exclaimed

Clark stepped into the kitchen with his phone in hand and a solemn look on his face.

Kara knew that look. “You have to go?”

Clark nodded. “Yeah, I have to get back to work.”

Kara nodded. “So do I.”

Eliza placed a hand on Kara’s shoulder. “I’m sure James will understand you taking a few more days.”

Kara shook her head. “I feel like I’m not being fair. When you lost Jeremiah you never took a break, even now that Alex is…gone, you still keep moving. I have to be strong, that’s what Alex would have wanted.”

Eliza sniffled as she gathered Kara in her arms. “When we lost Jeremiah I continued on because you girls needed me; you needed me to be strong. Alex, she was always too strong for her own good, putting her feelings aside for everyone else. If I hadn’t been strong she would have been.” Eliza let out a shaky laugh and gave Kara a teary eyed smile. “Even when I was the strong one, Alex always managed to be stronger.”

Kara smiled at that. “That’s true.”

Clark said his goodbye’s and after a quick change he flew off.

“So, are we going back tonight or tomorrow?” Maggie asked. “Because I am free till the gala, Lena emailed my captain as me and he gave me the next few days off.”

Kara stopped. “Lena did that? Why?”

“Like I said, she would have been here as soon as possible if she could.” Maggie told her. “I told you to call her.”

Kara’s brow crinkled and Maggie thought she was caught. “Lena shouldn’t worry so much about me, she has bigger things to worry about.” Kara said softly.

Maggie smiled. “She cares about you, a lot, Kara, she’s going to worry about you.”

Kara gave a smile and nodded. “I care about her too.”

“I’d love for you two to stay another day if you can.” Eliza spoke up.

Kara lifted her head and smiled. “Of course.”


	7. It’s been a long day, without you, my friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat’s back ya’ll!! And there’s a gala

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it has taken forever and a day, but after the finale, I hit a block, and then stuff just piled up, but I am free now for who knows how long, and I will do my best to get the next chapter up sooner rather than (really) later.  
> I hope you enjoy.  
> Any and all mistakes are my own.

“I like what you’ve done to the place.”

Kara snapped her head up and gasped, her eyes wide in surprise. “Ms. Grant?”

“Hello, Kara.” Cat greeted with a smile.

Kara was out of her seat in a flash, all inhibitions gone as she used her super speed to get to Cat and hug her; not noticing that she lifted Cat clear off the ground.

Cat returned the hug, melting into Kara’s natural warmth, and chuckled. “I’ve missed you too, Supergirl.”

Kara didn’t care that Cat knew, she always suspected that Cat knew and just pretended she didn’t for Kara’s sake; she tightened her hold just a little bit, so not to hurt Cat.

“Could you please put me down?” Cat asked a minute later.

Kara flushed and quickly but gently placed Cat back on her feet. “Sorry.” She started to wring her hands together.

Cat waved her off as she smoothed out her blouse. “Nothing to apologize for.”

“I know, but I feel like I should apologize for the NDAs Lucy is going to make you fill out now.” Kara told her sheepishly.

Cat looked indifferent. “Call her and have her bring them over, I’ll fill them out while we catch up.”

Kara smiled and picked up her phone.

/\/\/\/

Kara was halfway through telling Cat about CADMUS-Lucy cut in when she felt Kara was being too modest-when James came rushing in; he gripped the doorway to keep from running into the small office.

“Cat! Eve heard a rumor you were back!” James smiled at her.

Kara recoiled at the volume of his voice but otherwise said nothing, not wanting to draw James’ attention to her. She want ready to face him really. She had been successfully avoiding him and his gaze since she returned to work that morning when he told her she could take the day and the weekend off, and had been hoping to continue the streak, but alas, no dice.

Cat clicked her tongue at him. “Tsk. Not knowing who steps foot into your building the second they do? Shame on you.” Lucy pointed to another line with an ‘X’ next to it and Cat signed. “And shame on you for putting all my hard work to the back burner while you go off into the night to play vigilante.”

Lucy giggled and pointed to another line.

James glanced between Lucy and Kara with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. “You told her?” James asked.

Cat clicked her tongue again. “Tsk! It wasn’t all that hard to figure out.” Cat informed him. “I can see your eyes through the slit in the photos and videos.” To emphasize her point, Cat pulled up a photo of Guardian on her phone and zoomed in on the face.

James noticed the forms Cat was signing for the first time since he arrived at the office. “Uh, what are you working on?”

“Did you not have to go through all this when you learned about Kara’s alter ego, or were you exempt on the grounds you already knew since you are so chummy with Superman?” Her tone was accusing as she gave Lucy a hard look.

“He signed them.” Lucy told her and Cat let up her glare.

“You told her?!” James shouted and Kara recoiled at the volume of his voice.

Lucy and Cat glared at him and he had the good sense to look properly scolded.

Kara frowned. “I didn’t have to, she figured it out on her own; just like Lena!” Kara defended.

Cat quirked a perfectly sculpted brow. “Baby Luthor knows?” Cat asked, her voice low.

Kara’s eyes widened. “Yes! I mean, I didn’t tell her, she figured it out!” Kara took a deep breath. “I haven’t gotten that far yet.”

Cat hummed. “Hmm, well, I suggest you get back to filling me in.” Cat said.

“Filling her in?” James asked. He had yet to take a step into the office; scared to do so.

Lucy nodded. “Kara is giving Cat a detailed account of the past several months.”

“Oh, well, I should…” He pointed out into the hall.

“Should get back to running my multi-billion dollar empire that I left in your care and now have doubts of your ability to do so? Yes, you should.” Cat finished for him.

Kara and Lucy almost laughed at how quick he scurried off. Well, Lucy did, Kara hid her smile behind her hand, and Cat openly grinned.

_Still got it_ ; Cat thought as she signed on another line.

/\/\/\/

Maggie walked into the office for lunch holding enough take out to feed the whole floor. So basically, Kara, Lucy, Cat, and herself. Lena was supposed to join them as Maggie had just come from the same meeting-that she was called into work for-with Lena about the new equipment Lena was gifting the NCPD and the gala, but the Mayor and Chief of Police had pulled Lena aside to speak more over lunch. The science division was exclusively getting the equipment for a six month trial run before the rest of the force would get them and Maggie was ecstatic. Maggie was, however, disappointed that there was no time for her to bring up White Knight; too many prying eyes and ears.

Maggie was also impressed by Lena’s poker face when the police chief mentioned White Knight and Lena showed no signs of a giveaway. Turned out, the chief liked that there was someone who had access to all the tech and could take on the alien threats that would otherwise cripple the NCPD.

 “Hey, Little Danvers, Little Lane.” Maggie nodded at Cat. “Ms. Grant.”

“Hey, Maggie!” Kara smiled.

“Detective.” Lucy greeted.

“We haven’t met.” Cat deadpanned.

Maggie chuckled and placed the bags on Kara’s desk before she turned to face Cat. “Detective Maggie Sawyer, Science Division.”

Cat shook her hand. “Ah, yes, the little division Lena Luthor is gifting with new equipment.” Cat acknowledged. Cat gave Maggie a quick once over. “Agent Scully has nice taste.”

Maggie laughed and smiled uncertainly at that. Slightly flattered, slightly embarrassed, and slightly sad. “Uh, thanks.”

“Kara, you know you have to share!” Lucy scolded.

Maggie and Cat turned their attention to Kara who had already gone through half a container of Pad Thai. Kara gave them an innocent look that would have had more power to it if her cheeks weren’t puffed out like a chipmunk’s.

Kara continued to fill Cat in as they ate and Maggie interjected at some points.

When Kara got to the part about her fears of putting her suit back on, Cat put her pen down.

“Balcony.” Cat ordered; she stood up, smoothed out her blouse and skirt, and left the office.

Kara stared after her wide eyed.

“Now, Kiera!” Cat called from the hall with a tone that Kara isn’t ashamed to admit she missed; a lot.

Kara smiled and rushed after Cat. It was nice-amazing-to have her back.

 Cat shut the door to the balcony as soon as Kara stepped out, giving James a hard look as she did so. He was not in her good graces at the moment. First his Guardian nonsense and then he upset Kara, yes, he was in hot water. She was not going to start with the free weights and why her office smelt like old gym socks.

Cat led Kara to the edge of the balcony and leaned against the railing. Kara stood beside her and looked out over the city.

“They need their hero.” Cat told her and Kara frowned. Cat held up a hand before Kara could protest. “I understand your fear, this is not so different from the Red Kryptonite incident. But the fear the people are feeling now is one of hopelessness. You once told me you saw every person in this city as a light, well that light is slowly going out. They need Supergirl, not Guardian or some ridiculous White Knight with no creativity to come up with a better name.”

“I’ve been working with Maggie to get comfortable in the suit.” Kara defended in a quiet voice.

“So you have told me. But Kara, you have always been super, a hero, before the cape and the ‘S’. You’ve been my hero for years.” Kara gave her a confused look. “Don’t look so shocked, you were the only assistant who ever made sure I had time for Cater, the only assistant brave enough to interrupt board meetings to keep me from being late to Carter’s parent teacher meetings. The only assistant to ever know when I need my three L’s and no matter what I threw at you, you always came out on top, exceeding my expectations.” Cat placed a hand on Kara’s shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile. “I am proud of how far you have come Kara, and if there is anyone in this entire world who can take such a devastating loss and turn it into strength, it’s you.”

Kara sniffled and pulled Cat into her arms. Cat stiffened at the action but soon relaxed and returned the gesture.

“Thank you.” Kara whispered.

“You’re welcome; but we are still going to talk about this Mon-el fellow.” Cat said in a tone that told Kara she was not off the hook just yet.

Kara couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped her; just smiled wider and pulled Cat just a little bit closer.

Kara closed her eyes and took in the sounds of the city. It pained her to ignore the sounds of sirens, the screaming, and the destruction from alien attacks. But it was hard to put the suit on, but now, Kara thought she just might be a bit more worthy of it.

/\/\/\/\/\

“You have tested the tracking and dispatching system a dozen times, Miss Luthor, I’m sure it will be fine.” Jess sighed from the work bench where she was sat watching Lena go over the suit that was standing upright on its own fully assembled now.

“I know, Jess.” Lena sighed like a scolded child. “But what if I can’t get away to meet the suit or the suit lands too far away?”

“I thought that’s why you were making a remote control?”

Lena glanced forlornly over to a separate work table where the remains of what looked to be a miniature keyboard rest. “It has hit a bit of a wall.” Lena muttered.

Jess noticed the pieces and giggled. “Are you sure it wasn’t _thrown_ at a wall?”

Lena muttered incoherently as she opened the visor of the helmet and checked a few things.

“What about an AI program?” Jess asked and Lena sighed.

“I have thought of that yes, but a program can be hacked.” Lena shut the visor and the slight ‘v’ that symbolized the eyes lit up green.

“Can’t the whole suit be hacked as it is? And isn’t the green a dead giveaway?” Jess continued to ask.

“Most of the suit is capable of being hacked yes, but it would take someone much more skilled than I to do so, but in the event that the suit does get hacked it is programed to shut down before complete infiltration of its systems, rendering many of the weapons and targeting systems useless. And the green goes great.” Lena answered as she tapped out a command on her smart watch on her wrist.

The suit’s front opened up, some plates of the armor retracted back and the rest swung open; and Lena stepped up to it before turning and backing into the suit. The suit closed over Lena but the visor of the helmet remained raised.

“Then how can you control it?” Jess asked.

Lena just smirked as the suit powered down around her and she felt the weight settled on her shoulders and legs. “I utilized a more lightweight material so that movement without main power is easier. I also utilized a pulley system to assist movement.” Lena demonstrated by reaching back and pulling the rapier from her hip and swinging it twice and lunging.

Jess smiled. “You just think of everything don’t you?”

“I try.”

/\/\/\/\/\

The night of the Gala was upon them.

Kara was invited by Lena but was also there in a work sense. Snapper was not going to pass up having one of his reporters being at a gala in honor of something a Luthor did.

Cat was also invited and brought Carter along as her plus one, fussing over his bowtie in the limo.

“Mom, its fine!” Carter whined as he swatted Cat’s hands away from his bowtie for what had to be the hundredth time when it was really only the sixth. He turned pleading eyes to Kara. “Kara tell her my bowtie is fine, please?”

Cat gave Kara a look with a raised eyebrow and Kara sputtered for a moment.

“You look great, Carter, very handsome, but uh, you know what they say, mother knows best.”

Cat smirked and Carter huffed.

Lucy and Vasquez laughed from their seats. Cat insisted on picking them all up. Lucy was in a jade green gown with a plunging neck line that Cat has caught Vasquez staring at multiple times since they got into the limo, and Vasquez was wearing a black suit with a matching jade green pocket square, and a crème colored button up.

Kara sat across from Cat and Carter and was wearing a blue dress that stopped above her knees, a modest neck line that stopped above her breasts, showing the barest of cleavage, and had spaghetti straps.

Cat was wearing a stunning red dress that had glitter in the lace that made the dress sparkle when light hit it. Carter was wearing a three piece suit, his bowtie and pocket square matching the color of his mom’s dress.

Lucy and Vasquez were technically working, but not so much so that they couldn’t enjoy the night and a few drinks. J’onn had agents set up for security measures.

A night like tonight, where National City elite and almost the entirety of the Police force were gathered in one place, could attract all the worst the city had to offer.

As soon as they entered the ball room the gala was taking place in they spotted Maggie fussing with her dress uniform. They walked over to join her.

Maggie spotted them and smiled. “I hate this thing. Part of the reason I became a detective was to get out of the itchy uniform.” Maggie scowled as she tugged at her collar. Her hair was pulled back in a low bun, her hat on the table beside them.

Lena, who was in a conversation with a few other guests spotted them and excused herself from the conversation.

“Glad you all made it.” Lena greeted before being pulled into a hug by Kara.

“Thank you for inviting us.” Kara pulled away and Lena gave Lucy and Vasquez an appraising look.

“Well, you both look just stunning.”

Cat pursed her lips.

“Thank you.” Lucy beamed and Vasquez smiled next to her.

“Yes, Little Lane, just when did this happen?” Cat asked making a circular motion with her hand as she pointed her index finger at Lucy and Vasquez.

Lucy and Vasquez blushed and Kara squealed as she pulled them both into a hug.

“Oohh! I’m so happy for you two!”

Lucy and Vasquez grunted at the force of the hug.

“We haven’t confirmed anything yet, Kara.” Lucy groaned and Kara released them.

“Sorry.” Kara muttered sheepishly.

Lucy straightened out her dress and Vasquez did the same with her blazer.

“It’s alright, and it is also very new, so if you all could…” Lucy trailed off and their friends nodded.

“Of course.” Maggie promised.

They chatted a bit more before the ceremony started and they had to get to their seats.

Half way through the celebrations when the speeches were over and the party was in full swing the doors to the ballroom were forced open and people dressed in black and tactical gear stormed in, guns raised.

The security for the party all raised their own weapons and the cops that were carrying that night-Maggie included-pulled their own service weapons.

Kara placed Cat and Carter behind her. Lucy and Vasquez covering them with their own guns out.

The sea of intruders parted and Lillian Luthor stepped forward, followed by Jeremiah and Hank Henshaw.

Lillian smiled as she addressed the room. “Well, isn’t this just a quaint party.” She sought out Lena in the crowed. “I must say, I am very proud of your ability to throw a decent party.”

Lena stepped forward, Maggie stuck to her side. “Turning yourself in are you? Smart.”

Lillian laughed. “Why would I do that when my work is hardly done?” She nodded to a few of her men. “Get the equipment.” So they were here for Lena’s inventions.

 All the cops in the room stood in their way.

Lillian chuckled. “Now, how many of my men do you think you can take down before we kill everyone in this room? Put your weapons down!” Lillian ordered.

Every cop in the room was hesitant and had a scowl etched onto their features. A moment passed and they all lowered their guns.

A flash bomb went off over head and everyone ducked and covered their eyes.

“Go! Go!”

Kara looked over to see Winn and Lyra ushering people out of the ballroom, and Guardian knocking down CADMUS agents who were disoriented from the flash. J’onn flew in to the ballroom as the Martian Manhunter and engaged Hank Henshaw.

Kara saw Jeremiah going for the equipment on stage and turned to Lucy. “Look after Ms. Grant and Carter.” She rushed to the stage.

She grabbed the case from Jeremiah just as he snapped it shut.

“Kara, don’t do this!” Jeremiah ordered, his hand reached out and grasped the handle.

“No! Was all this worth Alex’s life?” Kara demanded. “Was it? Was your work with CADMUS worth Alex’s life?” Kara repeated.

Jeremiah looked stunned. “What? Alex is dead?”

Kara’s expression faltered. “You didn’t know? The agent that died when the bomb went off, that was Alex!”

Jeremiah stood frozen, his mouth opening and closing, resembling that of a fish out of water. “She’s gone?” He shook his head vehemently and tugged the case, surprised that Kara’s grip gave out. “No, she’s not gone, she wasn’t supposed to get hurt!” He turned on his heel and CADMUS agents blocked Kara’s path.

Kara tried to push past them but knew she couldn’t do much as Kara Danvers.

Three gun shots sounded behind Kara and the agents fell to the floor; Kara looked behind her to see Maggie, gun raised, and a stuffed drawstring bag in hand.

Maggie moved so she was shoulder and shoulder with Kara, her gun trained on the CADMUS agents. “They need you.” She said and held the bag out to Kara.

Kara looked at the bag and back to the dance floor where Guardian, Lyra, Lucy and Vasquez were doing their best to combat CADMUS agents. J’onn grabbed Henshaw and flew out of the ballroom. Their fight was safer away from people.

Kara took the bag and fled.

/\/\/\/\/

Lena glanced around the corridor looking for a way out, not to get away from the action, but somewhere she could call the Knight suit to her.

“Miss Luthor!”

Lena stopped and turned to find Jess waving her over from an open door. She glanced around the corridor and rushed to the room.

Lena stopped just inside the doorway, her mouth slightly agape and eyes wide. “How?”

Jess shut the door quickly and smiled. “I flew it here.”

Lena would ask more questions later, but they could wait.

Jess held out a hand and glanced down at Lena’s-undoubtedly uncomfortable-heels. Lena got the hint and made quick work of her heels, handing them off to Jess.

Lena stepped into the suit and couldn’t help the smile that spread across her lips as all the gears and panels turned and slid. The helmet slid over her head and the spread panels came together to form fit around Lena’s head.

Jess gave Lena a thumbs up and opened the large window she had flown the suit in from.

Lena engaged thrusters and flew out of the room.

/\/\/\/\/\

“It’s Supergirl! She’s back!”

Everyone looked overhead to see Supergirl hovering above them.

Cat grinned. “Atta girl.”

“Surrender!” Supergirl ordered.

“Not likely.” Lillian told her as her agents opened fire on her.

Kara brought her cape forward, letting the material catch and drop the bullets so not to accidentally send one ricocheting into an innocent guest. Kara took a deep breath from behind her cape, flung her cape out of her face, and released a strong gust of freeze breath that caused many CADMUS agents to be flung back and knocked to the ground.

Lillian pulled out one of her disrupters, activated it, and tossed it to the ground. Supergirl covered her ears and fell to the ground.

The high windows of the ballroom shattered as the White Knight joined the fray.

“Leaving so soon?” White Knight lowered herself to the ground, driving the sword in her hand into the disrupter.

The noise stopped and Supergirl looked up to see White Knight holding out a hand.

“Welcome back.”

Supergirl tried to use her x-ray vision to see under the helmet but White Knight chuckled.

“When the time comes.” White Knight said.

Supergirl took White Knight’s hand; accepting the help.

With Supergirl back in the fight, and White Knight there to help they had quickly overpowered the CADMUS agents there.

Supergirl looked around to see that most of the CADMUS agents and Lillian had cleared out and she let out a defeated sigh.

“Next time.” White Knight said before she took off and left the way she came in.

Supergirl watched her go and floated over to Maggie.

“The case is gone.” Maggie told her with a sullen expression.

“Will you be okay?” Kara asked.

Maggie nodded. “Yeah, I just have to help clear up this mess. Will you?”

Supergirl nodded. “I’ll meet you all at the DEO.” She flew off to the DEO.

Lucy picked her heels up off the floor and leaned on Vasquez as she put them back on. She patted Cat’s shoulder to let her know the danger was gone and Cat stood fully from her place on the floor, wrapped around Carter who had Vasquez’s jacket over his head to protect from the falling glass.

Lena stepped in to the ballroom from the hall and rushed over. “Are you all alright?”

“We’re fine.” Vasquez answered.

Maggie narrowed her eyes. “Where did you go?”

Lena looked at her. “I got caught up in the fleeing guests.” Maggie quirked a brow but left it alone.

Cat brushed off Carter’s shoulders. “Well, that was enough excitement for one night, wouldn’t you say?” Cat asked with a smile.

Carter nodded his head, a smile on his face. “I can’t believe I got to see Supergirl’s return! Everyone at school is going to be so jealous, they thought she died in that Kryptonite explosion.”

Cat smiled at her son’s enthusiasm.

“I’ll escort you home.” Vasquez stepped up.

“Thank you, Agent.” Cat said.

Vasquez turned to Lucy. “I’ll see you later?”

Lucy nodded and pressed a kiss to Vasquez’s cheek, a slight blush dusted over Vasquez’s cheeks.

Maggie watched the two with a smile before Vasquez escorted Cat and Carter out of the building. Maggie looked for Lucy who was directing DEO agents and then turned to Lena. “CADMUS got away with some of the tech.”

Lena frowned. “God only knows what they’re gonna do with it.”

Maggie squeezed her shoulder. “Let me finish up here and I’ll give you a ride home.”

Lena shook her head and waved Jess over. “I’d prefer to get back to L Corp, but thank you for the offer.”

Maggie watched the two go with a conflicted expression. On one hand, Maggie really wanted to speak to Lena about White Knight, on the other, she had work to do.

/\/\/\/\

Kara hovered outside of L Corp and watched Lena work. Lena was currently sat at her desk, elbow on the glass surface, her forehead resting against her hand, eyes focused on a tablet in front of her, her computer screen had a GPS locator open, and many files were fanned out in front of her.

Kara lowered herself to the balcony and tapped the glass lightly.

Lena snapped her head up with a startled look only for it to fade into a smile when she caught sight of Kara. She motioned Kara in but Kara shook her head and cocked it to the side, indicating that she wished to talk outside. Lena smiled and stood.

Kara held the door open for Lena and shut it behind her.

“You did amazing today.” Lena complimented.

Kara smiled shyly with a quick glance down at the crest. “I would have been done for without help.”

“I’m sure you could have handled it without help.” Lena moved to the balcony wall and leaned her forearms against it; her eyes on the city. “It seems brighter tonight.”

Kara looked out and smiled wider, remembering Cat’s words.

It did seem brighter.

/\/\/\/\

In a darkened medical room a young woman was asleep sat in a chair, her head on fold arms resting on a hospital bed; the occupant of the bed was still, the only movement being the rise and fall of her chest with every breath, until a flutter of her eye lids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hope you all liked it :)

**Author's Note:**

> So, what do you think?


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